Global Food Policy Report-2019

Context: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has recently released Global Food Policy Report-2019.

The report reviews the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2018, and considers challenges and opportunities for 2019.

This year’s Report highlights the urgency of rural revitalization to address a growing crisis in rural areas.

Key observations:

• Rural population account for 45.3% of the world’s total population and at least 70% of the world’s population remains extremely poor.
• The rural population suffers from rapid population growth rates, inadequate job and enterprise creation, poor infrastructure, scarce financial services.
• They also bear the brunt of climate change impacts.
• Nearly 50% of rural youth all over the world do not have any formal job they are either unemployed or under-employed.
• The world is not yet on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Poverty and malnutrition rates are falling in many places, but not fast enough.
• An estimated three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and most are among the 2.5 billion people who work in small-scale agriculture in developing countries.
• Almost one billion people, most living in rural areas of Africa and South Asia, still lack access to electricity.
• South Asia remained the fastest growing region in the world in 2018, as economic growth continued to strengthen. However, growth rates varied greatly across the region.
• Rice and wheat are the region’s major staple crops, accounting for about two-thirds of total dietary energy. But food consumption patterns have changed in the region over the past few decades.

Need of the hour:

Rural revitalization is important to end hunger and malnutrition.

The Changing consumption patterns driven largely by urbanization, demographic transitions, increasing income, and growing integration of food supply chains and food systems in India offer new opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment in rural areas.

Energy is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring durable rural growth and development.

Way ahead:

Policies, institutions, and investments that take advantage of new opportunities and technologies, increase access to basic services, create more and better rural jobs, foster gender equality, and restore the environment can make rural areas vibrant and healthy places to live and work.

Implementing a “decent employment agenda” will require improving rural livelihoods.

Sources: toi.