Food Security

Introduction

Agricultural research helps farmers in Vietnam grow more rice and counteract the impacts of climate change on food security.

Philippe Berry, IFPRI

Almost 1 billion people across the globe will go to bed hungry tonight. In order to feed a population expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050, the world will have to double its current food production, all while climate change increases droughts and leads to less predictable rains. USAID is advancing global food security by leading Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative that helps smallholder farmers, particularly women, in developing their agriculture sectors as a catalyst to generating broad-based economic growth and reducing hunger.

What is Food Security?

• Food security means having, at all times, both physical and economic access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life.
• A family is food secure when its members do not live in hunger or fear of hunger.
• Food insecurity is often rooted in poverty and has long-term impacts on the ability of families, communities and countries to develop.
• Prolonged undernourishment stunts growth, slows cognitive development and increases susceptibility to illness.

Some examples of USAID-supported agricultural capacity development activities include:

USAID has assisted farmers in Honduras increase their crop production not only to feed their families, but to sell to grocery stores to improve the family income.

USAID

• Policy and Data – Strengthening countries’ ability to collect and analyze data and to formulate effective policy through programs like Enabling Agricultural Trade and the Program for Biosafety Systems. USAID also collaborates with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help countries improve their national agricultural statistics systems.
• Research – Expanding scientific research and training opportunities for both developing country and U.S. researchers through programs like the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development fellowship program, Collaborative Research Support Programs, and the Borlaug Higher Education Agricultural Research and Development Program, which supports long-term degree training.
• Extension and Advisory Services– Providing technical assistance and training to farm groups and agribusinesses through initiatives like Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services and the John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program.
• Education – Supporting universities, vocational schools, and technical colleges through programs like Modernizing Agricultural Education and Training Systems so that developing countries can better educate their work forces.
• Agribusiness and Value Chains – Building an enabling environment for private sector investment through programs like Africa LEAD and the Cooperative Development Program.

Keywords

Food security: having, at all times, both physical and economic access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life.

Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative

Agribusiness: an industry engaged in the producing operations of a farm, the manufacture and distribution of farm equipment and supplies, and the processing, storage, and distribution of form commodities

New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition: Represents a commitment by G8 nations, African partner countries and private sector partners to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years through inclusive and sustained agricultural growth

Malnutrition: the condition that occurs when your body does not get enough nutrients.

MAgriculture: is the term used for the use of mobile technology in the improvement of agricultural, farming and rural development through enhanced communication information processes.

Sustainable intensification: the process of increasing crop production or yield in a given area while taking into account the environmental impact and sustainability of the production

Infographics:

The Global State of Agriculture
How To Feed The Future

Mariaini bunge member Joseph Chege (red hat) pitches in on greenhouse prep. He is part of the USAID Youth Bunge program, which today holds over 8,000 seedlings in all its farms that will sell for about 10 Kenyan shillings each.

Nichole Sobecki

Read More:

• Remarks by Administrator Rajiv Shah at Mississippi State University
• Press Release: Advancing the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition
• Women and Agriculture: Improving Global Food Security [PDF]
• Food Security at the U.N. General Assembly
• FrontLines: A Right to Land
• FrontLines: An Eggplant-Sized Difference
• FrontLines: Growing More with Less in Haiti

Quotable:

“It's a moral imperative, it's an economic imperative, and it is a security imperative.  For we’ve seen how spikes in food prices can plunge millions into poverty, which, in turn, can spark riots that cost lives, and can lead to instability.  And this danger will only grow if a surging global population isn’t matched by surging food production. So reducing malnutrition and hunger around the world advances international peace and security.”  - President Barack Obama

“The consequences of food insecurity reach as far across time as they do across borders. Over decades, hunger keeps economies stagnant, consigns and traps people in poverty. Without significant focus, that economic lethargy undermines global growth.” - Dr. Raj Shah, USAID Administrator

“In a world of plenty, no one, not a single person, should go hungry. But almost 1 billion still do not have enough to eat. I want to see an end to hunger everywhere within my lifetime.”– Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

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• Did you know almost 1 Billion people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger? @USAID #fallsemester #foodsecurity
• Did you know global population will grow 30% by 2050 and food production will need to grow by 70% to meet demand? @USAID #fallsemester
• Did you know hunger increases a country’s risk of democratic failure, violence, and civil conflict? @USAID #fallsemester #foodsecurity
• Did you know that hunger costs developing countries approximately $450 Billion per year in lost GDP? @USAID #fallsemester #foodsecurity
• Did you know that with equal access to resources, women could increase crop yields by 20-30%? @USAID #fallsemester #foodsecurity
• Did you know that agriculture is responsible for 86% of rural population’s livelihood? @USAID #fallsemester #foodsecurity
• Did you know that 2 Billion people suffer from undernutrition and its negative consequences on health? @USAID