Environment and production technology 2008

Agriculture is vitally important to the world's hungry people, the majority of whom live in rural areas and depend on the land for their food and livelihoods. Yet the increasing fragility of the natural resource base, compounded by global shifts such as population growth, climate change, and energy scarcity, adds to the vulnerability of the world's 800 million food-insecure people. Emerging food and agricultural technologies offer significant promise for advances, but only if they are supported by appropriate policies and institutions. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) identifies solutions to these challenges by focusing its research agenda on reducing poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in a sustainable way. IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division (EPTD) supports this overall strategy with collaborative research and outreach programs that build local capacity and identify policies to increase agricultural production, conserve natural resources, promote yield-enhancing technologies, and facilitate adaptation to global change, while reducing hunger and poverty, improving rural livelihoods, and increasing incomes.