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Category: Development

A Steep Rise in US Food Prices?

An article discussing US food prices in yesterday’s The Telegraph had a slightly alarmist title: “US Food Price Rise Is Steepest in Decades.”

While there is no doubt in my mind that this is the steepest rise in food prices this country has experienced in a long time (since before I was born, in fact), let’s not get carried away. Indeed, the article notes how

“[t]he cost of producing finished foods jumped 3.9 percent last month from a year earlier, as harsh winter weather exacerbated the already increasing price of many basic ingredients used in food. The increase was the steepest since November 1974.”

Oh really?

The cost of food worldwide has gone up 62.4 percent last month from a year earlier (i.e., from 145.3 to 236), according to the statistics provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

I understand that The Telegraph compares the US to itself — love thy country fixed effect — but the article should perhaps have noted how this is a relatively small rise in food prices compared to what is going on elsewhere in the world.

 

 

Eight Job Openings for IFPRI in Ethiopia

This should be of considerable interest to those who are on the job market and already have a few years of experience:

“The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), an international research organization that works with partners worldwide to find sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty, seeks to fill eight senior research fellow positions based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The selected candidates will work in the newly created Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, an initiative of the Government of Ethiopia whose primary aim is to promote agricultural sector transformation by supporting the existing structures of government, private-sector, and other nongovernmental partners to address systemic bottlenecks and deliver on a priority national agenda to achieve growth and food security.

  • Available positions include:
  • Senior Research Fellow-Cooperative Program/MTID (#11-112)
  • Senior Research Fellow-Agriculture Extension and Research Program/DSG (#11-113)
  • Senior Research Fellow-Value Chain Development/MTID (#11-114)
  • Senior Research Fellow-Input Markets Program/MTID (#11-115)
  • Senior Research Fellow-Soil Fertility Program/EPTD (#11-116)
  • Senior Research Fellow-Agriculture Technology Program/EPTD (#11-117)
  • Senior Research Fellow-Seeds Program/EPTD (#11-118)
  • Senior Research Fellow-Monitoring and Evaluation Program/MTID (#11-119)”

Click here to apply.

Apps for Development: Finally, Someone Speaks Up

Tom over at A View from the Cave has been lucky enough to attend the Development Research Institute’s conference in New York City last week, and he is kind enough to share with his readers what has been discussed at the conference.

Today, Tom blogged Yaw Nyarko’s presentation, titled “Information Technology and Development.” I am grateful to Nyarko for the following (and to Tom for blogging about it):