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The Government of Indonesia and FAO have recognized the need for thorough analysis and modelling of Indonesia’s agrifood systems to support agrifood systems transformation efforts in the country. This is needed to provide a better understanding of the governance context in agrifood systems, including the political economy dynamics influencing performance, as well as to identify synergies and trade-offs across different policy goals and optimal policy mixes for achieving multiple policy objectives. In this regard, FAO facilitated a project to pilot an innovative approach to modelling for food systems transformation. This modelling approach was developed and implemented by a team of research...
The issue of the pros and cons of free trade from the point of view of developing countries refuses to dissipate, and in Latin America, the debate rages most fiercely. Argentina is still licking its wounds after a catastrophic past five years, and Brazil and others have hardened their line – even going so far as to initiate the influential new G20 group of the most powerful LDCs. Who Gains from Free Trade examines the extent to which trade reforms have been an important source of the slowdown of economic growth, rising inequality and rising poverty as observed in many parts of the region. This volume presents a comprehensive analysis of this important topic, utilizing: research based on si...
Recent attention has focused on "repurposing" and redirecting agricultural support programs towards achieving environmental, climate and nutritional outcomes. Under these proposals, typically equivalent levels of subsidies and other forms of government support would be focused on the reducing GHG emissions, environmental externalities and other broader public policy objectives such as improving nutrition. But questions arise as to whether new support programs would necessarily be consistent with WTO disciplines. This paper examines various measures aimed at reducing GHG emissions including imposition of carbon standards and taxes, border measures to reduce slippage, and so-called "Climate Smart" domestic support measures and considers how such measures comport with WTO trade rules.
Agrifood systems generate significant benefits to society, including the food that nourishes us and jobs and livelihoods for over a billion people. However, their negative impacts due to unsustainable business-as-usual activities and practices are contributing to climate change, natural resource degradation and the unaffordability of healthy diets. Addressing these negative impacts is challenging, because people, businesses, governments and other stakeholders lack a complete picture of how their activities affect economic, social and environmental sustainability when they make decisions on a day-to-day basis. The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 looks into the true cost of food for sustain...
As the effects of climate change set in, and population and income growth exert increasing pressure on natural resources, food security is becoming a pressing challenge for countries worldwide. Awareness of these threats is critical to transforming concern into long-term planning, and modeling tools like the one used in the present study are beneficial for strategic support of decision making in the agricultural policy arena. The focus of this investigation is the Republic of Korea, where economic growth has resulted in large shifts in diet in recent decades, in parallel with a decline in both arable land and agricultural production, and a tripling of agricultural imports, compared to the ea...
This research was undertaken to better assess the role of mechanization in the future of smallholder farmers in Nepal. It addresses the knowledge gap about whether promoting mechanization that is often complementary to land can effectively support smallholders, particularly in the face of a growing nonfarm sector. Rising rural wages in Nepal have increasingly put pressures on smallholder farmers, who tend to operate labor-intensive farming. Agricultural mechanization through custom hiring of tractor services has recently been considered as an option to mitigate the impact of rising labor costs for smallholders. However, the benefit of agricultural mechanization may still be better captured b...
Following recent major global shocks that resulted in significant spikes in international food and fertilizer prices, this study analyses the degree of price and volatility transmission from international to selected domestic food and fertilizer markets across seven countries in Central America. We follow a multivariate GARCH approach using monthly data over the period 2000–2022. We find varying results by country and commodities and an overall low to moderate degree of price transmission in levels, but a stronger degree of volatility transmission. We similarly observe some changes in the degree of co-movement between international and domestic price variations over time—depending on the...