The World Bank has, together with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) published a report that proposes to repurpose agricultural policies and support as a way of transforming agriculture and food systems to better serve the health of people, economies and the planet. This is particularly important for Africa due to accute food insecurity across large swathes of the continent, slowed productivity by as much as 40% as a result of climate change and a rising number of poor in Sub-Saharan Africa which serves as a stark reminder of the need for continued attention to rural incomes.
The report finds that repurposing a portion of government spending on agriculture each year to develop and disseminate more emission-efficient technologies for crops and livestock could reduce overall emissions from agriculture by more than 40 percent. Meanwhile, millions of hectares of land could be restored to natural habitats. The economic payoffs to this type of repurposing would be large. Redirecting about $70 billion a year, equivalent to one percent of global agricultural output, would yield a net benefit of over $2 trillion in 20 years.
Providing nutritious and affordable food for a growing global population while protecting the vital natural systems that sustain life is one of the critical challenges of our times. Current agricultural practices have yielded impressive productivity gains, but are increasingly associated with high greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and chronic disease, while leaving many rural people who depend on farming in poverty.
How can agricultural support policies be repurposed to make the food system deliver better outcomes? This was the broad question the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) sought to answer in this study. The report finds that there are important current and projected trade-offs for policymakers to consider as they work to deliver on the promise of food systems for sustainable development.
All solutions are not equal when it comes to rethinking agricultural public policies and support. The report finds that greenhouse gas emissions would increase substantially in the future if current policies are untouched. Simply rearranging or even removing current support would not bring about the changes needed for sustainability. Nor would applying environmental conditionality to the support provided while relying solely on currently available technologies: While it could help reduce emissions in the short term, lower yields could induce farmers to expand land use for agricultural production. Both changes in incentives and investments in innovations that simultaneously pursue productivity enhancements and greenhouse gas emission reductions are needed in order to deliver broad and long-standing wins.
Most importantly among the findings, repurposing would deliver large benefits to people. It would raise rural incomes, contributing to improved food security. It would substantially reduce the cost of healthy diets, contributing to better
nutritional outcomes. And it would accelerate poverty reduction.
At a time when farmers bear the brunt of worsening climate change impacts, volatile food prices, rising input costs, and shifting consumer demand, government support is much needed and could be much better targeted. The report uncovers that for every budgetary dollar spent under current farm policies, only 35 cents end up with farmers. In rethinking agricultural policies, governments must be mindful of farmers’ bottom lines and the particularities of country and even local contexts. Indeed, farmers’ support for policy changes, incremental or otherwise, will be key to the success of reform efforts.
We hope readers will find that this report makes a useful contribution to a growing literature on how to repurpose current agricultural policies and drive reform, as the World Bank and IFPRI work with policymakers to reexamine their support programs and chart ways forward for food systems that better benefit people, the planet, and the world’s economies.
Please read the full report here.