How to design food, land and water policies to address hunger and climate change in today’s political economy

Jonathan Mockshell and Danielle Resnick, authors of a new Political Economy and Policy Analysis (PEPA) sourcebook, set out how governments can make use of a step-by-step guide to account for power dynamics, conflicting interests, coalitions and networks when developing agrifood policies. The book draws upon dozens of frameworks and tools to support policy development that addresses the dual challenges of food security and climate change.

Whether it’s the European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy or India’s rice export ban, food and agriculture policies around the world are constantly evolving.

Sometimes, this is a reaction to new, external developments, such as the war in Ukraine or the impacts of extreme weather.

But food and agriculture policies are also regularly changing because too often, a lack of political will or institutional weaknesses mean they fail to achieve their objectives, even when technical analysis predicted their success.

In other words, even if policies are designed with good intentions to increase food productivity, safety, availability, or sustainability, their success will be limited without full attention to the unique political, economic and social realities that surround them.

This is an excerpt from a blog that first appeared on www.globalpolicyjournal.com, click to read the entire article

Authors

Jonathan Mockshell, senior agricultural economist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

Danielle Resnick, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

This work is part of the CGIAR Research Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS). CGIAR launched NPS with national and international partners to build policy coherence, respond to policy demands and crises, and integrate policy tools at national and subnational levels in countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. CGIAR centers participating in NPS are The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), International Potato Center (CIP), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and WorldFish. We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.