Agriculture and rural development research will play a critical role in meeting the ambitious targets under SDGs 1 and 2. In recent years there has been heightened emphasis on both the rigorous evaluation of development interventions and systematic reviews and meta-analyses based on such evaluations.

The global community is not on course to end hunger by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal deadline of 2030, according to data from the 2016 Global Hunger Index.

The level of hunger in developing countries as a group has fallen by 27 percent since 2000. While the world has made progress in reducing hunger in recent decades, the state of hunger is still serious or alarming in 52 countries.