The rich partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute has been generating cutting-edge technical knowledge and enhanced expertise in support of food security and improved nutrition for all. One of the earliest and long-standing collaborations between FAO and IFPRI is centered on FAO’s respected flagship publication, The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA).
SOFA has played a vital role in presenting science-based assessments of key agriculture issues. IFPRI contributed data, papers, reviews, and technical expertise to several editions. In 2010, IFPRI provided papers and technical expertise on gender and agriculture to support the 2010–11 SOFA: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development. The following year, for the 2012 SOFA: Investing in Agriculture for a Better Future, FAO and IFPRI shared data and knowledge on public expenditures to show that investing in agriculture is one of the most effective strategies for reducing poverty and food insecurity. The recently released 2015 SOFA: Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty drew from two reviews contributed by the IFPRI-led CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). The 2015 SOFA made the case that social protection programs, when combined with agricultural and rural development measures, can be very effective in reducing poverty.
In 2016, FAO’s SOFA: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security emphasizes the importance of food security in the international response to climate change, continuing the global momentum launched with the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015. IFPRI contributed two background papers and participated in the publication’s technical review.
For more information on IFPRI's work in partnership with FAO, please go to this brochure.
