Archives for September 2011

Malawi conference marks successful step towards translating global findings to the country level

September 29, 2011 by zkarelina

Malawian Minister of Agriculture Peter Mwanza addresses conference participants

During the Unleashing Agriculture's Potential for Improved Nutrition and Health in Malawi conference held earlier this week in Lilongwe, Malawi, policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders engaged in energetic and vigorous discussion and mutual learning about how to make agricultural policies and programs more nutrition-and health-friendly in Malawi.

The inaugural session set the stage and featured several key government officials. Malawi's Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Peter Mwanza officially launched the conference and emphasized the need to rejuvenate existing links between the three sectors. He was introduced by Erica Maganga, the Secretary for Agriculture and Food Security at Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.

Nourishing the Planet blog discusses NCD policy seminar

September 20, 2011 by zkarelina

Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet blog posted a review of last week's policy seminar on agriculture and non-communicable diseases. Check out the post to read what they had to say.

Policy seminar examines role of agriculture for UN meeting on noncommunicable diseases

September 13, 2011 by zkarelina

Last Thursday, IFPRI hosted a policy seminar on “Leveraging Agriculture to Tackle Noncommunicable Diseases” that explored how to take advantage of the connections between agriculture and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and how food and agriculture research can become part of the dialogue at the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, to be held on September 19-20.

Chaired by Marie Ruel of IFPRI, the seminar featured a panel of multi-sectoral speakers. Professor Tim Lang, City University London, discussed major drivers and emerging trends with regard to the linkages between agriculture and these diseases. Rachel Nugent, Center for Global Development, talked about the recent rise of NCDs in international development and policy dialogue. She notably mentioned the 2020 Conference in Delhi as key example of this change. Derek Yach, PepsiCo, concluded with a discussion about the important role of the private sector in improving food and nutrition security.

Visit the IFPRI page to view speakers' presentations and PowerPoints.