India

The compendium shows how the scope of research has evolved at IFPRI, as well as in the wider development community. It covers a host of topics that bear on food and nutrition security, including development strategies, markets and trade, technologies for agricultural production, natural resource management, conflicts and natural disasters, subsidies and safety nets, gender roles, and health. Research on each topic is set into context to show how thinking has progressed over time.

The term agrobiodiversity refers to genetic variability in plants, animals and micro-organisms of economic value. In the past, several thousand plants were used for purposes of food, feed, fibre, fuelwood, fertilizer and medicine. As agriculture advanced, the human food secruity systems began to depend not only on fewer and fewer plant species, but also on a small number of varieties. Such genetic vulnerability to pests and diseases as well as to soil and climatic stresses.