Knowledge Platforms and Regional Dialogues 9 January 2012; Washington DC

1. Knowledge Platforms and Regional Dialogues 9 January 2012; Washington DC

2. Outline • Food security challenges in South Asia • Role of regional office in South Asia • Knowledge platforms & regional dialogues • Key messages and lessons • Future plans

3. Food and nutritional security challenges • South Asia is the home of 23% of the global population • Contributes mere 2.4% of global GDP • Houses for 42% of the world’s poor (US$ <1.25/day) • 21% population is undernourished; 41% children are underweight; child mortality is about 8% • Tackling the issue of poverty, hunger and malnutrition is necessary without adversely affecting the natural resources

4. Key challenges • Smallholder agriculture • Shrinking land and water resources • Climate change adversely affecting food production • Poor governance and underdeveloped institutions • Underdeveloped markets and poor infrastructure • Challenge of linking smallholders with the markets • Underdeveloped rural non-farm sector • Leading to rural-urban migration • Gender inequity • Feminization of agriculture

5. Technology fatigue and policy paralysis are often cited for poor state of affairs in South Asian agriculture

6. Role of regional office: align with IFPRI’s vision and mission • Conduct research on high impact priority areas • IFPRI Divisions, Regional offices, Country programs and national partners, other CG Centers and advance centers • Improve capacity in policy research • Partnership, impact and capacity strengthening program • Communicate policy outputs with stakeholders • Bring all the stakeholders at one platform • Policy analysts and policy researchers • Policy makers and policy advisors, the private sector, civil society organizations, the media, and the donors

7. International Conference: IFPRI’s 2020 Vision 10–12 February 2011 | New Delhi, India

8. Knowledge, Tools and Lessons for Informing the Design and Implementation of Food Security Strategies in Asia 14–16 November 2011 | Kathmandu, Nepal

9. Bangladesh Food Security Investment Forum 26-27 May 2010 | Dhaka, Bangladesh

10. Agri-Services for Inclusive Rural Growth June 2011 | Lucknow, Bhopal, New Delhi and Hyderabad India

11. Key messages and lessons • Align investment priorities with current poverty-reduction initiatives & food policies • Scale up successful interventions • Learn from case studies at country and project level • Use all available levers for change • Create pro-poor investment environment • Ensure how can agri-services be transformed to serve poor and smallholders • Build comprehensive regional knowledge platform • Encourage exchange of ideas, knowledge, experience & tools

12. Future plans align with IFPRI mission and CRPs • Facilitate inclusion of outputs in national policies • Accelerate research in high priority areas to alleviate food and nutritional challenges • Pro-poor investment priorities, and promote pro-poor and sustainable agricultural productivity growth • Mainstream smallholders in emerging farm-firm linkages • Institutional innovations for transparent governance and inclusive growth • Address nexus between agriculture and nutrition • Explore nonfarm rural employment opportunities • Assess potential climate-change impacts and identify climate-smart options

13. Future plans • Build a strong pool of policy analysts and researchers through capacity strengthening • Evolve effective mechanism of monitoring & evaluation and their institutionalization • Reach to potential partners, build linkages and establish networks for research & sharing knowledge • PAANSA (Policy Analysis and Advisory Network in South Asia) • ReSAKSS (Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System) • Knowledge platform at regional level

14. Sub-regional knowledge platform Virtual knowledge platform in Asia

15. Thank you