The emerging world food situation and challenges for development policy

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 1988. The emerging world food situation and challenges for development policy. Policy brief. 1. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160949

The perception of the global food scene has changed dramatically since the mid-1970s. Foodgrain stocks are now twice the level of the mid-1970s. Foodgrain prices have dropped 30 percent in the past few years, in contrast to doubling in the early 1970s. Real fertilizer prices have receded to the 1960s low, whereas they increased four-and-a-half times in the early 1970s. Although the current impression of glut may prove illusory, the present global food situation offers extraordinary opportunity to reduce hunger, poverty, and underdevelopment. However, to grasp that opportunity in today's complex world will tax our ingenuity.