IFPRI: Ending Hunger and Malnutrition: Keeping our eyes on the road

This IFPRI Seminar, held during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings and co-organized with the World Bank, will address the ongoing global food crisis, with a focus on overcoming obstacles like conflicts, funding cuts, and inefficiencies in financing systems. Experts will explore solutions to enhance food security, strengthen value chains, and align public and private resources to tackle hunger and malnutrition.

Timed to align with the WB-IMF Spring Meetings, this event will convene policymakers, representatives of international organizations, private sector and food system experts for a stocktaking of where we find ourselves and to chart solutions towards more aligned domestic and international, public and private financing flows aimed at ending hunger and malnutrition. Picking up on the Spring Meetings’ core theme of jobs as a path to prosperity, the important role of jobs in food value chains and improved livelihoods for furthering food security and nutrition will also be explored.

This policy seminar will:

Take stock of recent data, trends and outlooks for food and nutrition security, with a focus on the most vulnerable countries.
Discuss challenges and opportunities in resourcing, regional and global cooperation, and innovation to bend the curve of hunger and malnutrition.
Examine research findings and share policy recommendations to prevent and prepare for food crises, while broadening the focus to strengthening value chains and markets in developing countries.

AGENDA

Opening Session

Speakers will provide their perspectives on how best to remain focused on the fight against hunger and malnutrition amidst growing competition for limited resources and an international financial order in need of reform.

Moderator: Ruth Hill, Director, Markets, Trade, and Institutions, IFPRI

SDG2 and the International Financial Order: Outlook for Supporting LMICs
Shobha Shetty, Global Director, Agriculture and Food, World Bank
Funding Flows to support SDG2 implementation: recent developments and future prospects (special focus on public budgets, banking systems, private sector and capital markets)
Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI
SDG2: The Road to 2030
Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

High-level Panel on Challenges and Opportunities

Policymakers participating in the Spring Meetings will speak about challenges and opportunities for efforts to fight hunger and malnutrition at the global, regional and national level.

Moderator: Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy; Acting Senior Director, Transformation Strategy, IFPRI

G20 Perspectives on and Priorities for Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition
John Steenhuisen, Minister of the Department of Agriculture, South Africa
Building Greater Resilience to Supply Shocks impacting the Rice Sector
Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Philippines
Rural Investment to Combat Hunger and Malnutrition
Alvaro Lario, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
What’s Next for Nutrition: Outcomes of the Nutrition for Growth Summit in France and Next Steps
Gilles Morellato, Head of Official Development Assistance team at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
The Importance of targeted, effective and sufficiently funded humanitarian assistance in our rapidly changing world
Rania Dagash-Kamara, Assistant Executive Director Partnerships and Innovation, World Food Programme (WFP)

Deep Dive: The Role of Value Chains in Boosting Food and Nutritional Security

Panellists will present knowledge and evidence on how well functioning value chains contribute to economic development, and how to harness market expertise, efficiencies and innovations to help them expand.

Moderator: Loraine Ronchi, Global Lead for Science, Knowledge and Innovation in Agriculture and Food, World Bank

The Role of corridors in strengthening value chains in Africa
Alice Ruhweza, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Building Commodity Markets in Africa
Ayodeji Balogun, Group CEO, the Africa Exchange (AFEX)
Bayer’s investment in African seed sectors
Matthias Berninger, EVP, Head of Public Affairs, Sustainability and Safety, Bayer Global
Importance of Agrifood Trade in connecting value chains
Joseph Glauber, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI