Global Food for Thought

Commentary - Stretching the Food Aid Dollar by Building Strong Local Markets

2013-05-21T09:39:07-05:00

This post is part of a series produced by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, marking the occasion of its annual Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C., which will be held on May 21st. For more information on the symposium, click here. Follow @globalagdev and #globalag on twitter to join the conversation on May 21^st.

Jon Halverson
Vice President of Land O'Lakes International Development

Floods, typhoons and droughts. Market fluctuations and inflation. Unhealthy government transitions and local political flare-ups. Disease-ridden crops and tainted water sources. All of these shocks can devastate any country, but for nations combatting poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, disasters often precipitate acute food security outbreaks that result in suffering and loss of life.

The U.S. Administration’s proposed food aid reforms will focus on combatting extreme vulnerability by strengthening disaster-prone communities through market development before emergencies happen. Under a pilot program in Bangladesh, Land O'Lakes International Development discovered that it is possible to deliver sustainable market-driven results in a country that faces recurrent shocks by building local capacity and making business linkages.

In 2010, we launched a one-year program called the Local and Regional Procurement (LRP) Pilot in Bangladesh. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Land O'Lakes worked with two local processors – Olympic and PRAN – to develop a cereal bar using locally-grown ingredients. The program paired the processors with Bangladeshi farmers, helping them to develop mutually beneficial business partnerships: Olympic and PRAN found a source for high quality ingredients, while farmers secured a dependable market for their goods.

The cereal bars, which were produced for a school feeding program in three extremely poor sub-districts of Jamalpur District, was the first of its kind to be developed in Bangladesh. By using sesame seeds, puffed rice, chickpeas and peanuts, nearly 100,000 schoolchildren and teachers in 441 schools enjoyed eating the new product that matched local tastes.

Reducing Cost, Speeding Up Delivery

Before the LRP began, we were working in Bangladesh leading a school nutrition program that relied on monetization to source ingredients. The program fed more than 260,000 students in nearly 1,000 schools with milk and biscuits, and witnessed a dramatic increase in attendance – as high as 95 percent.

The difference between the former school nutrition program and the LRP, however, was not just in the sourcing of ingredients. Our LRP initiative produced the cereal bars for about eight cents per bar, compared to the 20 to 26 cents cost for milk and biscuits. The program also began distributing the snacks rapidly to schools. Under most monetization programs, it takes about one year to distribute snacks to schools. With the LRP pilot, Land O’Lakes saw bars reach students in less than two months.

Cereal Bars Create Lasting Commercial Opportunity

When we helped form a supplier-buyer relationship between farmers and processors under the LRP pilot, two unintended consequences evolved. First, the processors, who realized that they could meet an unmet market opportunity, decided to invest with their own capital in new equipment that produced higher quality bars.

Second, we checked in with Olympic and PRAN in November 2012, more than a year after LRP closed, to see if they were still producing the cereal bars. Indeed, they were not only producing the bars, but they were selling 2.5 million bars commercially each month. Both processors also continue to source from local farmers. Olympic has expanded their product line to six varieties of cereal bars, which use different ingredients depending on the season. They have also begun constructing a new plant to meet market demand more efficiently.

Meeting Development Objectives with Food Aid Reform

The success of the Bangladesh pilot offers a unique incentive to other emergency local and regional procurement initiatives to make significant steps to capacitate local processors and strengthen value chains. By building strong business relationships that last beyond the life of the program, we see other opportunities for such programs to succeed in countries like Bangladesh that
are highly prone to shocks. If another disaster strikes this nation of 167 million people, this cereal bar could play an integral role in feeding those affected. Unlike other emergency rations that may require water, the bar is ready-to-eat and would prevent contamination with water-borne illnesses that often arise during disasters. Land O'Lakes sees the value that such LRP efforts can bring to countries like Bangladesh, and supports steps that will help meet development objectives through food aid reforms and ultimatley make populations more resilient in the face of future shocks.

##

Land O’Lakes, Inc. (www.landolakesinc.com) is a national, farmer-owned food and agricultural cooperative with annual sales of $14 billion. The nation’s second-largest cooperative and number 194 on the Fortune 500, Land O’Lakes does business in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Operating as a not-for-profit division of the cooperative, since 1981, Land O'Lakes International Development has improved the quality of life for millions of people in 76 nations through more than 275 projects worldwide that are generating economic growth, improving health and nutrition, and alleviate poverty by facilitating market-driven business solutions.

Bio for Jon Halverson

Jon Halverson joined Land O'Lakes in June 2012. As Vice President for International Development, Jon provides the strategic, business and administrative leadership for the division. He has more than 20 years of experience managing international business development, developing sustainable business models and leading executive teams in strategy development and implementation. His international experience includes both living and working overseas. During his 14 years at Cargill, he was responsible for strategy development, international mergers and acquisitions, as well as post-acquisition integration. In Africa, he successfully spearheaded more than 70 food and agriculture investments and led a business development process that generated more than $38 million in sales. In 2009, Jon founded both the Africa Middle Market Fund and Frontier Markets Consulting. Before joining Land O'Lakes, Jon served as the Managing Director for both organizations. In addition to his work experience, Jon has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheaton College and a Masters of Business Administration from Regis University.

Commentary - What Would Norm Say?

2013-05-21T06:51:50-05:00

Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn
President, The World Food Prize Foundation

Given the decade-long relationship I had with him in building the World Food Prize, I am sometimes asked about what the late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug might say about a particular topic.

So, if Norm, as everyone knew him, were still here, you might wonder how he would react to the new report just issued by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, entitled Advancing Global Food Security: The Power of Science, Trade and Business.

Dr. Borlaug was a phlegmatic Norwegian from northeast Iowa and not given to wild outbursts of emotion, so I am not sure that he would have actually hugged the two co-chairs who directed the preparation of this report: World Food Prize laureate Catherine Bertini and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman. But most certainly he would have told them how extremely pleased he was with the great emphasis that the report puts on the critical importance of science.

Norm was about the primacy of science in agriculture from his days growing up on the farm. His earliest ambition (aside from playing second base for the Chicago Cubs) was to be a high school science teacher. We all can be grateful that, during his time at the University of Minnesota, he became enthralled with the challenge of confronting rust disease that took him to a Ph.D. in plant pathology and then to Mexico and the start of the Green Revolution in India and Pakistan.

Dr. Borlaug, therefore, would have certainly embraced Recommendation 1 of the report about making global food security a high priority of U.S. policy. One of the very first things Norm ever shared with me was how dismayed he was at the downward trend in terms of funding for agricultural research. He believed that the U.S. leadership in global agriculture, in which he played such a significant role of over the past sixty years, could slip away if the funding and priority were not maintained by the president and the congress.

I believe Norm would have felt just as strongly about Recommendation 2, calling for a new science of agriculture based on “sustainable intensification,” an approach also advocated by his great friend Sir Gordon Conway in a 2013 Montpellier Panel Report. Norm’s partner in pioneering the Green Revolution, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the first World Food Prize laureate, has advocated that agricultural advances must take place in the context of “An Ever-Green Revolution.” Norm agreed completely

A third element in the report, which I feel certain Norman Borlaug would agree with deals with the dramatic variations of weather now occurring. Climate volatility is one more area where science and - Norm would emphasize this in bold letters - biotechnology has a special role to play. If we are to be able to increase the amount of food produced on the land now in cultivation and to accomplish this in the face of new challenges of drought, flooding, and salt water intrusion (to mention but a few), then he would argue all aspects of science, including biotechnology, must be available.

In 2006 at the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue symposium in Des Moines, Norm sat on the stage with Sir Gordon, Dr. Rajiv Shah (then the leader of the Gates Foundation Global Agriculture project), Catherine Bertini, and Dr. Chen Zhangliang to review just what the priorities should be for global agricultural strategy. Many of the ideas they discussed that day can now be seen coming to fruition in terms of the U.S. Feed the Future initiative, the Gates Foundation Global Strategy, and now this Chicago Council Report.

So as we approach our year-long Centennial Observance of Dr. Norman’s Borlaug’s birth this coming October, it would be good to remember his very last words, “Take it to the farmer.” The ‘it’ that Norm was talking about was the science of agriculture and all of the ways in which it can enhance the lives of all of those poorest and most food insecure citizens of our planet.

So what would Norm say? I think he would first say “Thank you” to Catherine Bertini, Dan Glickman, Marshall Bouton, and Lisa Eakman and all of the members of their Chicago Council team who produced this exceptional report.

I think Norm would say “Take this science to those farmers in Africa and around the globe, particularly the smallholder farmers, whose fate and well-being will hang in the balance in decades ahead.”

*Full Disclosure: It was my privilege to serve as a member of the advisory group that help develop this remarkable overview of the challenges facing the international community in the 21st century, as well as shape its targeted recommendations in regard to U.S. policy on global agriculture.

2013 Global Food Security Symposium

2013-05-20T22:58:20-05:00

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs will be hosting its fourth Annual Global Food Security Symposium tomorrow, starting at 830 am EDT. The event’s agenda can be found here.

Those interested can follow the Symposium’s proceedings:

Webcast - Sessions from 8:30a.m. – 4:30 p.m. will be webcasted at www.thechicagocouncil.org/livestream
Twitter – Follow and join in the conversation by using hashtag #globalag. The Global Agricultural Development Initiative will be tweeting throughout the day’s event @globalagdev
Pinterest – Follow Global Agricultural Development Initiative Pinterest board for live up-to-the minute updates.
Global Food for Thought Blog – Visit Global Food for Blog for guest commentaries and live blog-posts throughout the Symposium.
Live Bloggers – The following bloggers will be continuously blogging throughout the event:
- Keron Bascombe, TECHNOLOGY4AGRI, blog centered on technological application in agriculture, Trinidad
- Michael Hoevel, Agriculture for Impact, deputy director, Ag4Impact, London, U.K.
- Firdavs Kabilov, former research consultant for the International Water Management Organisation, Uzbekistan
- Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank, expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues, Chicago, IL.
- Meerim Shakirova, Land Administration, consultant for at the World Bank, Kyrgyzstan
- Erin Stock, InterAction, former journalist covering international development and humanitarian news, Washington, D.C.

Keynotes/Distinguished Speakers include:

Dr. Helene D. Gayle, president and CEO, CARE
Lauren Bush Lauren, CEO and founder, FEED
Rajiv Shah, administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
Thomas Vilsack, secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Commentary - Community Development Key to Sustainability Efforts

2013-05-20T14:37:36-05:00

By Pierre Ferrari
Pierre Ferrari is Heifer International’s President and CEO.

Now, more than ever, solutions to serious issues facing the world—hunger, poverty and environmental degradation—must be sustainable. We will always need short-term, rapid response solutions to disasters, but now everything we do—in business, government, science and at my own organization, Heifer International—has to be for the long term, with those caught in the vortex helping provide their own solutions.

For too long, we looked development through a single lens: economic. Then through the Green Revolution, we added an ecologic component with the vow to do no harm. Today, though, we must add a third leg to the development stool to ensure viability and stability—social capital.

We need to be clear on one thing, something we learned at Heifer International a long time ago: Economic growth for its own sake is not a solution. For economic growth to make sense and to make lasting change there has to be community development—it must contribute to a better life for the least of us just as much as it improves life for those of us with the most.

For Heifer, our expertise is agricultural development, but we also apply a community development tool, our Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, in every project we do. These values, such as gender equity, full participation, sharing and caring, accountability and training and education, are the backbone of our work.

Embedded into a family’s life and culture, these values create significant social change—women gain their voice and become leaders in their communities. Husbands learn respect and help their wives. Co-ops form, savings accounts are created and, in time, entire communities, entire countries change for the better.

Today, community development is the foundation for market development, and building social capital is the highest form of helping underserved people and families help themselves.

In too many cases, market development works against the poor, so in Heifer’s case, we balance the odds, providing the structure and tools families need to compete fairly, resources such as animals and training to help them achieve resilience. We also help connect them to value chains—critical needs, not nice to haves for these smallholder farm families.

So as the families use the livestock to increase food production and diversity, the knowledge gained from the Cornerstones fosters change that spans generations and sparks improvements in infrastructure to help build local commerce—roads, electricity, commodity storage and transportation, as well as market associations and structures.

These are the hallmarks of sustainable development. It starts with putting more and better food on the table, but it leads to empowerment, opportunity and, eventually, independence.

We understand that there is no silver bullet cure for the problems we dwellers of the planet face. But as we tackle and eliminate hunger and poverty and repair the planet, we must acknowledge that successful poverty elimination utilizes market-driven development and at the same time depends strongly on deeply embedded social engagement.

Pierre Ferrari, who was born in Africa in 1950 in what was then the Belgian Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo and from 1971 to 1997 Zaire), is Heifer International’s President AND CEO. Ferrari has more than 40 years of business experience, from large consumer goods organizations such as Coca-Cola USA to socially oriented organizations like CARE and the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund. Ferrari holds a master’s degree in Economics from The University of Cambridge and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Commentary - Walk The Talk

2013-05-19T21:34:45-05:00

By Dr. Shenggan Fan

Dr. Shenggen Fan has been director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) since 2009.

The global food system continues to remain vulnerable. Progress to combat global hunger and malnutrition remains fragmented, as nearly 870 million individuals—about 1 in every 8 people on the planet—are undernourished and more than 2 billion suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Moreover, hunger and malnutrition is disproportionately felt throughout the world, as roughly 98 percent of these individuals live in developing countries. As we move forward and the 2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline draws closer, progress toward halving the proportion of individuals suffering from hunger is not currently on track.

Although many notable commitments to agriculture and food and nutrition security have been made in recent years by various actors—including developing country governments, members of the international community, and other key stakeholders—progress in fulfilling these commitments remains mixed. It will be essential for actors to “walk the talk” and move from rhetoric to action. Several important actions will be needed including:

Investing in agricultural science and technology. These investments should include technologies for improved crop and livestock breeding; advanced biofuels derived from non-food feedstock; low carbon agriculture; resource-use efficiency which saves water and energy, as well as reductions in food losses and waste; and safe food systems. Technologies must be smallholder friendly and regionally applicable.

Advancing a “nexus” approach in policy planning and implementation that takes into consideration the agriculture, nutrition, and health nexus and the food, water, and energy nexus. Sectoral synergies must be explored that promote win-win solutions while minimizing trade-offs at the same time. Environmental sustainability goals, for example, should not come at the expense of achieving food and nutrition security.

Strengthening the capacities of developing countries through increased technical and financial support. These efforts should build the capabilities of national institutions to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate programs, initiatives, and policies. Experiences from Asian countries, like China and India, have shown that returns from these types of efforts are high.

The post-2015 development agenda must focus on poor people and build the resilience of global and national food systems. The agenda should also integrate coherent sustainable development goals. Unlike previous goals, the measurement of hunger should be redefined to include dietary quality and nutrition. With appropriate planning, investment, and actions, we can end hunger sustainably by 2025—a feasible goal when considering progress already seen in emerging and developing countries like Brazil, China, Ghana, and Vietnam.

Talk about overcoming hunger and malnutrition has gone on long enough, it is time to walk the talk.

2013 Symposium Edition of the Global Food for Thought News Brief

2013-05-19T12:07:59-05:00

Please click here;to view the special Symposium edition of the Global Food for Thought news brief.

If you have not signed up to receive Global Food for Thought by email, please do so by clicking here.

Sustainable Intensification: Making Science the Solution for African Agriculture

2013-05-18T07:48:32-05:00

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, marking the occasion of its annual Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C., which will be held on May 21st. For more information on the symposium, click here. Follow @globalagdev and #globalag on twitter to join the conversation on May 21^st.

By Mr. Michael Hoevel

Michael Hoevel is the Deputy Director of Agriculture for Impact at Imperial College London.

As the expiration date of the Millennium Development Goals draws closer, our promise to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty remains largely unfulfilled. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 200 million people (nearly 23% of the population) are chronically hungry and 40% of children under the age of five are stunted due to malnutrition. As a global community, we urgently need to establish new models for addressing these challenges.

Science-based agriculture offers such a solution – not only tackling food insecurity but also overlapping with multiple, interacting global threats, from managing scarce supplies of land and water to minimizing carbon emissions and post-harvest losses. Whilst no silver bullet exists to eliminate these threats, scientific approaches can go a long way to manage them. Across the agricultural value chain from agricultural research laboratories to agronomists and extension workers in the field and processors and exporters, scientific interventions can help people at each step to make African agriculture a great deal more productive and resilient, as well as more viable as a livelihood and business for the continent’s farmers.

The Chicago Council’s Global Food Security Symposium and its upcoming report, Advancing Global Food Security: The Power of Science, Trade, and Business, will discuss this very question of how to capitalize on the power of science to end hunger. Similarly, a recent report from the Montpellier Panel outlines a new paradigm for African smallholders focusing on ‘sustainable intensification’. The term refers to equipping farmers with the innovations required to navigate the joint goals of producing more nutritious food and boosting incomes whilst preserving the environment, adapting to climate change and reducing food waste.

This concept is by no means new but has typically been associated with larger commercial farms and with other regions of the world. Conversely, crop yields in Africa have remained largely stagnant, only 4% of cultivated land in Africa is irrigated, and 75% of soils on the continent are classified as degraded. If African agriculture does not adapt, under current climate predications, even current yield levels will decrease by 1.5% by 2050.

Happily, we need not accept these bleak projections as inevitable. Science-based solutions can give African smallholders access to the context-specific innovations they need to reverse this reality. They will allow African farmers to boost their productivity sustainably – balancing higher production and productivity with socio-economic realities (especially amongst smallholders) as well as sound environmental management.

The Montpellier Panel report divides the sustainable intensification process into three categories. The first is ecological intensification, in which natural ecosystems are managed more effectively. Practices include the planting of faidherbia trees, a leguminous tree species which sheds its nitrogen-rich leaves during the wet season, thereby providing nutrients to crops planted below, allowing sunlight in as well as fixing two tons or more per hectare of carbon to the soil.

The second category is genetic intensification, that develops crops and livestock better suited to various challenges, for instance, achieving higher yields, withstanding extreme temperatures, and also being more nutritious, such as in the case of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes in Mozambique that have doubled citizens’ daily intake of essential mineral Vitamin A.

The final facet is socio-economic intensification, which looks to create more of an enabling environment for farmers and others to learn, share, collaborate and support. This encompasses efficient farmer organizations and co-operatives and robust land rights as well as improved infrastructure for storing and transporting crops, and high quality extension services to provide farmers with the training they need.

In order to realize this vision of sustainable intensification in a way that will work for African smallholders, several concrete actions can be taken. First, the policy environment for the food and agriculture sector must become more socially inclusive and business-friendly in order to promote participation and co-operation. Local enterprises in Africa should be encouraged, by both streamlining yet pressure-testing current legal requirements and regional trading regulations.

Investment can also be facilitated by encouraging the private sector, public sector, civil society and knowledge institutes to collaboratively determine the outcomes they all desire, which should also enable strategic partnerships to grow. Providing fundamental inputs such as good quality seeds and the right amount of fertilizers must be prioritized, especially oriented to reach smallholder farmers. Public services such as healthcare, education, water and sanitation are also crucial for a healthy and empowered agricultural workforce.

The challenges are great, but the window of opportunity is greater. Science-based solutions for African agriculture have the potential to achieve synergistic outcomes for a more prosperous and resilient Africa.

Commentary - The Nexus between Science, Business & Collaboration

2013-05-17T07:00:26-05:00

This post is part of a series produced by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, marking the occasion of its annual Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C., which will be held on May 21st. For more information on the symposium, click here. Follow @GlobalAgDev and use #globalag on twitter to join the conversation on May 21.

By Dr. Margaret Zeigler

Margaret Zeigler is the executive director of the Global Harvest Initiative

On May 21, leaders from numerous sectors will participate in the Chicago Council Global Food Security Symposium to identify opportunities to alleviate hunger and poverty through agricultural development. In February of 2013, I visited the Philippines to conduct an in-depth look at how that nation’s government and civil society organizations are implementing new approaches to improve food and nutrition security. During meetings with policymakers, farmers, research institutions and the private sector, I witnessed a growing nexus among science, government and business as each sector begins to collaborate to advance the Philippine agricultural system, educate the next generation, and improve livelihoods of those in rural farming communities.

On the trip, I saw this nexus come to life through the CoCoPal Program. CoCoPal, named after the cocoa, coconut and Palayamanan concept of rice-based diversified farming, is implemented by ACDI/VOCA, one of GHI’s consultative partner organizations. In 2009, ACDI/VOCA was awarded a $6.6 million USDA Food for Progress grant. CoCoPal is improving the incomes and food security of 25,000 smallholder farmers and 125,000 indirect beneficiaries through value-chain growth and integration of diversified farming systems. The program also improves post-harvest processing facilities, and practices and standards for cultivation of cocoa, coconut and rice.

Let’s take a closer look at how the program is fostering science, business and collaboration.

A trainer at the Village Technology and Extension Farm provides helpful skills and knowledge for the CoCoPal Program

The program extends good science-based knowledge, building sustainable agricultural systems through the teaching of Palayamanan integrated farming systems. Developed by PhilRice, this concept combines rice with other high-value crops through the efficient use of farm resources, allowing farmers to produce more using sustainable agricultural methods.The core function is rooted in supporting the adoption of new technologies and improved farming and processing practices. The program established village technology and extension farms (VTEFs), which serve as demonstration hubs for introducing new practices, new plant materials, new technologies such has harvesting and drying, and innovations in pest and disease management.

This program develops and supports farmers as they grow their business operations. It improves farm-level productivity growth and teaches farmers good skills; it invests in post-harvest infrastructure facilities, and it

Recently constructed drying tables for cacao in Mindanao

connects farmers to local markets creating a sustainable supply chain.

A major key to success is collaboration among CoCoPal beneficiaries, Philippine national partners, private-sector, the U.S. government and local governments.

The CoCoPal program is producing results.

Increasing number of farmers planting two or more CoCoPal crops on their farm;

Foreign investors as well as local businessmen are interested in cocoa investment in the Mindanao region;

Cacao is now part of the high-value commercial crops promoted by local government units; and

More cacao nurseries are being established by cooperatives and individual farmers to supply the growing market demand.

Recent evaluations are showing this program has improved farm-level productivity and advanced farmer skills and knowledge, generated new local business, developed a more sustainable supply chain, and improved the livelihood of smallholder farmers.

At Global Harvest Initiative, we believe that the right policies and investments can improve productivity throughout the value chain. The CoCoPal program, made possible through innovative development assistance programs, is an important part of helping farmers in the southern region of the Philippines increase their income and job stability and provide new opportunities for local economic development. It advances the use of appropriate technologies, strengthens government extension services, engages the private sector in the program model, and facilitates a productive value chain. I was heartened to see the difference this program makes for so many farmers in Mindanao. It was truly a great example of power of science, business and collaboration at work!

Dr. Margaret Zeigler has dedicated her career to addressing global hunger and food security, currently serving as the executive director of the Global Harvest Initiative, a private-sector voice for productivity growth throughout the agricultural value chain to sustainably meet the demands of a growing world. The Global Harvest’s growing membership includes Accenture, DuPont, Elanco, IBM, John Deere, and Monsanto.

Commentary - Freezing the Footprint of Food

2013-05-16T16:34:03-05:00

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, marking the occasion of its annual Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C., which will be held on May 21st. For more information on the symposium, click here. Follow @globalagdev and #globalag on twitter to join the conversation on May 21^st.

By Dr. Jason Clay

Jason Clay is World Wildlife Fund's senior vice president for market transformation.

By the year 2050, our planet will be home to another two billion people. How and where we will we feed everyone has become one of the most pressing conservation issues of the 21st century.

Farmers will need to produce twice as much food as they do now to meet population demands. Where will this food come from? Today, we use over a third of the planet’s surface to grow food. When you subtract deserts, mountains, likes, rivers, cities and highways, food production is spread over 58 percent of the land. Take out national parks and other protected areas and this figure rises to 70 percent of the planet’s available surface.

We need to freeze the footprint of food—find ways to double the productivity of farming, so that we can produce twice as much food and fiber on the same amount of land. This will require many actors working on several strategies simultaneously.

At WWF, we have identified eight steps, when taken together, could produce enough food for all and still maintain a living planet.
1. Eliminate Waste in the Food Chain
Today, we waste one out of every three calories produced. In developing countries, waste is a result of post-harvest loss, lack of infrastructure, and lack of storage. In countries like the United States and in the European Union, waste usually occurs in the home or in restaurants as unused food is thrown away.

If we eliminated waste in the food chain today—by recycling post-harvest loss, improving infrastructure and eliminating post-consumer waste—we could halve the amount of new food needed by 2050.

2. Harness Technology to Advance Plant Breeding

The study of genetics, combined with 21st Century technology, can help us scale up the amount of nutrients in different foods. At the same time, it will improve productivity, drought tolerance and disease resistance in an era of climate change.

WWF works with the African Orphan Crops consortium, including partners like the Beijing Genomics Institute, Mars, Incorporated and the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), to map the genomes of two dozen of the most important food crops in Africa. Once sequenced, this information will be put into the public domain so plant breeders can provide better planting materials for farmers.

3. Share Better Practices More Quickly

We must address the poorest-performing producers to improve food production, increase incomes and reduce environmental impacts. Today it takes about ten years to spread and implement better practices around the globe. We can do better in our digital age and spread this information faster and more efficiently.

We also need governments to deal with the bottom 25 percent of producers that are responsible for the majority of environmental impacts on the habitats and species we care about. The world’s governments must adopt policies that help shift the whole performance curve.

4. Use Less to Produce More: Efficiency Through Technology

We need to double the efficiency of every agricultural input—including water, fertilizer, pesticides, energy and infrastructure. Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of global water use. Right now, on average globally, it takes one liter of water to produce one calorie of food. We must do better. If we halved the water used and doubled production, we would quadruple efficiency. The technology exists to do this, and the best producers can already achieve these results.

5. Rehabilitate Degraded Land

Instead of farming new land, we need to rehabilitate degraded, abandoned or underperforming lands. Restoring and cultivating these lands would significantly reduce pressure on critical ecosystems such as rainforests, peat swamps and high-biodiversity savannas. Studies show that rehabilitating degraded land for agriculture can actually be more profitable than converting forest land. In Brazil, at least 10 million hectares of degraded land have been rehabilitated and planted with crops. The Brazilian government aims to do the same on 25 million additional hectares by 2020. What if more countries followed this model?

6. Establish Greater Property Rights

How many farmers will plant a tree or invest in sustainability if they don't own the land, not just for themselves but to pass on to their children? The lack of clear property rights is a significant barrier to food security in many places in the world. For instance, in Africa, women grow most of the food but rarely have property rights to the land in their name. Foreign assistance for economic development could be linked to the establishment of property rights for individuals. The African Union, NEPAD or the World Bank could take the lead in encouraging nations to ensure property rights.

7. Balance the Disparity Between Under and Over Consumption

One billion people in the world don't have enough food, while one billion people eat too much. About half of the people without enough to eat do not own land or produce their own food. Today they are split between rural and urban areas—but by 2050 most will live in cities.

The rural poor in Africa have always had access to “famine foods”—nutrient-dense leaves of common plants such as cassava and sweet potatoes. But for the urban poor there is no such buffer. About 40% of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from malnutrition. These leaves of common plants, now often discarded, could be used to enrich flour in school lunch programs and in home cooking.

8. Restore Soil Carbon

Soil carbon—or organic matter—is key to conserving farmland for future generations. Indeed, the single best measure of rehabilitated soil is increasing organic matter. However, half of the world's top soil in the tropics, in which most soil carbon resides, has been lost in the past 150 years. Increasing soil carbon raises productivity, reduces input use, and increases farmer income.

Two approaches could help farmers conserve their soils. The first is a greater emphasis on tree crops and deep-rooted grasses, which build soil carbon and reduce erosion. The second is creating a carbon market for agriculture. Retailers or leading brands that purchase commodities like sugar, milk, coffee, cocoa, or palm oil could also buy the carbon that the farmer sequestered or avoided releasing during production. WWF, with support from the Dutch government, and food-linked companies including Unilever, Nutreco and Rabobank, are exploring the amount of carbon that could be bundled with commodities and sold in global markets.

Commentary - InterAction’s Food Security Pledge: $1 Billion of Potential Leverage

2013-05-16T07:19:37-05:00

This post is part of a series produced by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, marking the occasion of its annual Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C., which will be held on May 21st. For more information on the symposium, click here. Follow @GlobalAgDev and use #globalag on twitter to join the conversation on May 21.

By Mr. Sam Worthington

Sam Worthington is the president and CEO of InterAction, an alliance of more than 180 U.S.-based NGOs.

Last fall InterAction pledged that its member NGOs would spend more than $1 billion in private resources on food security, agriculture and nutrition work over the next three years. It may come as a surprise that U.S.-based NGOs have this amount of private resources to commit to ensuring more families worldwide have the food they need. Thanks to support from the individuals, foundations and corporations who believe in their cause and approach, they do.

In fact, the U.S. NGO community is one of the largest donors in the world. Privately-funded international expenses for U.S. NGOs total $14 billion per year, according to the Hudson Institute. And in many countries, NGOs’ spending in the areas of food security, agriculture and nutrition exceeds that of the U.S. government.

Why highlight this with a pledge? Our hope is that the pledge will create opportunities for donors such as the U.S. government or corporations to partner with U.S. NGOs in new ways and, ultimately, to better leverage private dollars. By doing so, our goal is to increase the impact of food security, agriculture and nutrition efforts so that we are able to help more people lift themselves out of poverty. In a world where one in eight people is malnourished, innovative and effective partnering is a must.

With programs in every country in the world, U.S. NGOs are at the forefront on the issues of food security, agriculture and nutrition. They work alongside local communities to help people become more self-sufficient, and their efforts complement U.S. government programs such as Feed the Future. But U.S. NGOs cannot build local capacity or solve local food security problems at scale by working alone.

There is enormous potential for governments, the private sector, and U.S. NGOs to work together and align our efforts in sectors such as food security and nutrition. Governments bring public dollars and the ability to change public policy, while the private sector offers access to markets, value chains and large distributive capacity. U.S. NGOs’ added value includes decades-long connections with communities and expertise working with and strengthening local civil society, including farmer cooperatives —critical assets given the need for development dollars to deliver lasting results.

Starting this summer, InterAction will report spending toward the pledge on an annual basis in a format similar to the G8 donors’ L’Aquila food security pledge. This complements ongoing efforts at InterAction such as the Food Security Aid Map, which maps InterAction members’ food security interventions worldwide. These efforts are well worth the time invested, as we work to improve our accountability and pave the way for stronger partnerships.

At its core, the pledge is an invitation to partner, a demonstration of the potential leverage that InterAction members bring to the table. We look forward to continuing the conversation with the U.S. government and corporations on how we can better align public and private dollars to increase the impact of food security, agriculture and nutrition efforts. We must recognize the power of working with civil society, government and the private sector in smart ways to ensure that we help more people live better and healthier lives.

Sam Worthington is the president and CEO of InterAction, an alliance of more than 180 U.S.-based NGOs. For more information, watch InterAction's video. Watch the highlights from InterAction's 2013 Annual Forum here.