The second Research Into Use (RIU) call for proposals is for the African Innovation Challenge Fund

Spanish translation of commentary from the March 2008 IFPRI Forum. Link is to PDF file, size 73K.

Spanish translation of commentary from the March 2008 IFPRI Forum. Link is to PDF file, size 73K.

At the launch, Ravi Narayanan, Vice Chair of the forum’s Governing Council, introduced the 12 founding members of KnowledgeHubs.

The reason why is a classic supply-demand quandary: The amount of fresh water remains constant at 3% of all water on Earth. But according to the United Nations Population Fund, global consumption will double every two decades. So in 13 years, the International Water Management Institute estimates, one-third of the world's population will face a severe water shortage.

In the midst of rising food prices and scarcity, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the Stockholm International Water Institute and the International Water Management Institute have expressed their grave concern about the wastage of food. For instance, these organizations, in a report titled “Saving water : from field to fork – curbing losses and wastage in the food chain”, say that in the US alone, about 30% of produced food, worth about 48.3 billion USD is wasted every year.

IFPRI proposes a new global institutional arrangement that would consist of a minimum physical grain reserve for humanitarian assistance and a virtual reserve and intervention mechanism to calm markets under speculative situations, backed up by a financial fund.

IFPRI proposes a new global institutional arrangement that would consist of a minimum physical grain reserve for humanitarian assistance and a virtual reserve and intervention mechanism to calm markets under speculative situations, backed up by a financial fund.

It is working in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute and the International Water Management Institute.

In 2006, Mugerwa, a student doing his Master's degree, conducted an experiment under the supervision of Dr. Mpairwe. He fenced off part of Lubega's degraded farm and planted pasture seeds (re-seeding).