Director General of the Washington-based global food policy think tank International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Dr Johan Swinnen reached Dhaka on Saturday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec). Headquartered in Dhaka, Bimstec is a regional organization (established in 1997) with seven member countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The Bimstec region is home to around 1.8 billion people, representing over one-fifth of the world's population with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$3.6 trillion. To tap the huge potential of this region, particularly in the areas of agriculture research and food security, the IFPRI is all set to join forces with Bimstec through the signing of the MoU on Sunday.
Food insecurity and economic hardships often force people, especially the marginalized, to states of double burdens of malnutrition due to the lack of basic micronutrients, important vitamins and minerals, and unhealthy food consumption at the same time. Additionally, food prices, especially considering the current inflation following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, also have a significant impact on poverty and food and nutrition security. With the MoU, IFPRI-South Asia will collaborate with the Bimstec Secretariat in Dhaka to contribute toward achieving a sustainable and inclusive food, agricultural, and trade transformation in the region. For this, the IFPRI will be facilitating collaborative research with local partners, implementing capacity-building programs and promoting outreach and policy communications through cross-country learning and increased exchange of ideas.
In the next five years of research as part of this MoU, the IFPRI and its national partners will aim to work on the following key areas: a) assessing and addressing the most important issues faced by the food and agriculture sector in Bimstec member states; b) enhancing the global, intra-regional and supra-regional trade of food and agriculture products of Bimstec member states; c) prioritizing investment in food processing and related infrastructure as agri-food trade has fast-changing value chain integration and emerging differences in value distribution; d) understanding the state of tariff and non-tariff barriers, including critical time to trade and cost to trade measures and reducing their burdens; e) providing impetus to the food and agriculture sector by envisioning the need for trade financing, trade facilitation, broader infrastructure and cross-border settlements; f) analyzing trade at all levels – regional, domestic, national and international as interdependent systems; and g) understand the mechanics of informal trade and how it interacts with formal trade as a strategic substitute and complements it in different contexts.
On the sideline of his current Dhaka visit IFPRI DG Dr Johan Swinnen spoke exclusively to Dhaka Tribune Executive Editor Reaz Ahmad on a broad range of issues.
Dr Johan Swinnen is also managing director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR; member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA), USAID; and co-chair of the Think20 Task Force on Food Security. Dr Swinnen has been awarded the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) Book of the Year 2019. The book, “The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies” offers an accessible introduction to the political economy of agricultural economics and food policies. Following are some excerpts from his interview with Dhaka Tribune:
What brings you to Bangladesh?
The IFPRI has worked in Bangladesh for many years. In close partnership with the government and non-government organizations, we have been able to contribute to improving food and nutrition security in the country. During this visit, I am excited to be signing a memorandum of understanding with Bimstec on March 5 here in Dhaka and to meet with many partners from the government, the European Union and other organizations to discuss our future collaborations. I am also grateful for the opportunity to meet with a team of excellent researchers at our Bangladesh office.
How do you envisage Bangladesh's future food policy given the current high food prices in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine crisis? What should be done to better prepare for future food-price shocks?
Policymakers in Bangladesh (and worldwide) need to fundamentally shift the way they think about food systems to focus on building resilience. With the growing frequency and magnitude of shocks, including those spurred by climate change, we need to establish early warning systems and link short-term food security needs with longer-term development, peace and sustainability goals. In doing so, we must ensure that marginalized groups, especially women and youth, are included. The IFPRI's research in Bangladesh provides many valuable insights that could improve food systems resilience. For example, the program Digital Financial Services Adoption Among SMEs in the Midstream of Agricultural Value Chains is focusing on expanding access to financial services for small- and medium-sized enterprises. Such resources can make value chains more agile in the face of future shocks. The IFPRI is also participating in the Consortium for Scaling-Up Climate Smart Agriculture in South Asia, which will develop and scale solutions for local producers to weather future climate shocks.
Speaking of inclusion, the Agriculture, Nutrition and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Project undertaken by Bangladesh's Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) with support from the IFPRI and Helen Keller International was very successful at improving nutrition and agricultural production knowledge while also empowering both women and men.
Which strategies are working well and which are not working so well, as far as Bangladesh's food security is concerned?
Research and practice show that trade barriers remain one of the greatest threats to food security, especially during crises. Several countries imposed such barriers soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which drove food prices up and made it particularly difficult for low-income, import-dependent countries to meet their food needs. Fortunately, most of these barriers were quickly removed as experts around the world warned of severe consequences. So open trade strategy is very important for food security.
Social protection programs have also been highly effective at protecting food security. For example, evidence from Yemen, a country facing many food security challenges, shows that cash transfer programs helped prevent malnutrition in children in many households during the recent spike in global food prices. In Bangladesh, Open Market Sale, Food Friendly Program and Vulnerable Group Feeding programs played an important role in mitigating the impacts of higher prices on vulnerable groups. The removal of import tariffs and value-added taxes also played an important role in stabilizing prices.
You have penned an award-winning book (“The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies”) published in the recent past. In light of some of the insights you shared in your writing, what policy advice would you recommend for Bangladesh, which is in the transformation phase from LDC to a middle-income country?
Food systems transformation for resilience and sustainability will inevitably involve trade-offs as some stakeholders benefit more than others. This, in turn, can lead to political tension and opposition to change. To overcome this opposition, policymakers must build coalitions across stakeholder groups at the local and national levels. This can be accomplished by creating inclusive forums for these different groups to come together and build consensus around policy strategies with a strong emphasis on research-based policy solutions. Policymakers need to pay special attention to their most vulnerable constituents, including them in policy discussions and ensuring there are safety nets in place to address any unintended spill-over effects.
Do you think global leaders are doing enough and providing enough funds to support world food productivity? If not, what can we do to make our leaders understand the urgency of financing agricultural R&D?
Overall, recent international events show promise in terms of strengthening agricultural R&D. The United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), held in September 2021, highlighted the importance of a systems approach to transformation, accounting for the range of technical, social and political conditions needed to enact change; the 2022 Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framing Convention on Climate Change (COP27) built on these conversations to anchor food systems in the climate discussion. These discussions emphasize the importance of food systems while also fostering an inclusive environment for discussion and collaboration by farmers, researchers, non-profit actors and policymakers. In particular, I was encouraged by the agreement coming out of COP27 to create a new funding arrangement where the global community will compensate vulnerable countries for losses and damages brought on by climate change.
However, more concrete actions, stronger commitments and accompanying accountability mechanisms are needed to bring about food systems transformation. The UNFSS finance lever estimated that it would cost between $300 billion and $400 billion per year through 2030, and that was before the current spike in food prices. If this level of investment could be achieved, the return on investment would be much greater in the form of reduced poverty, healthier and more diverse diets, and more sustainable systems.
You served the World Bank and European Commission in various capacities before and helped them shape policies facilitating global food issues. In what direction should the world move to grow more from less natural resources at a time when adverse climate change impacts are also a big reality?
Food systems produce about a third of greenhouse gas emissions with the largest share coming from agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU). We need to urgently change the way we produce food so that production can continue to increase under the growing strain of climate change. At the same time, we need food systems to change from GHG emitters to serving as a net carbon sink that sequesters more emissions than they emit. This can be done with new farming techniques including alternate wetting and drying or rice paddies and no-till farming combined with further investment in research and development of other solutions.
In addition to being IFPRI director general, you also serve as managing director of CGIAR's global program on System Transformation. Two questions in this context: a) why is System Transformation thinking important for developing countries?
The challenges facing global food systems are incredibly complex and require close collaboration between governments, businesses, nonprofits and other interest groups. This is especially true in the context of developing countries where resources are limited, and challenges are severe.
The Systems Transformation Science Group can catalyze transformative change by providing insights for shaping the incentives of food systems actors and removing bureaucratic hurdles to innovation and effective regulations, among other policy and institutional innovations. Ultimately, these insights will provide an enabling environment for the creation of healthy, equitable and sustainable food systems.
B) How can a country like Bangladesh move from structural transformation/agricultural transformation to System Transformation thinking?
A central component of systems transformation is the establishment of inclusive processes for sharing ideas and making decisions. Governments and other food systems actors should create opportunities for diverse stakeholders to come together and build consensus around key issues. Systems transformation will also be guided by evidence. Investment in research and innovation will be crucial to identifying the best strategies for systemic change.
This article was originally published in Dhaka Tribune on March 4, 2023.