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Feed The Future Links Agriculture, Nutrition, And Infant Health
Among the recent reports that address the issue of global food
production is the “2014 Feed the Future Progress Report: Accelerating
Progress to End Global Hunger” (http://tinyurl.com/n7xumhf).
Feed the Future is the US government’s response to the 2007-2008 spike
in global food prices that resulted in a significant increase in the
number of people experiencing hunger and undernutrition.
At the 2009 G-8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy, President Obama pledged
$3.5 billion toward an initiative to increase global food security. The
2014 report, which reviews the progress of the initiative in the years
since 2009, makes the point that the US commitment has “leveraged
additional commitments of more than $18.5 billion from other donors.”
The Feed the Future initiative uses a “whole-of-government” approach
to reducing hunger and undernutrition and their effects. This approach
is designed to move from a piecemeal strategy of addressing global
hunger and food production activities by various agencies, each with a
different area of responsibility – agriculture, trade, development,
commerce, etc. – to a coordinated effort by all agencies.
“Feed the Future’s top-level goals are to improve food security
through increasing incomes and reducing undernutrition among the world’s
poorest, especially for women and girls. The initiative is unique in
its focus on nutrition; it is committed to reducing stunting rates by 20
percent in its zones of influence and sustainably reducing hunger and
undernutrition by recognizing the link between nutrition and agriculture
and the critical 1,000 days from pregnancy through a child’s second
birthday. Feed the Future also works to address the root causes of food
insecurity and increase the resilience of vulnerable populations to
shocks, particularly in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.”
The initiative “is driven by country-led priorities and rooted in
partnership with governments, other donor organizations, the private
sector and civil society to enable long-term success.” To increase the
effectiveness of the program, the US government works with countries
that “are chosen selectively, based on their willingness to invest in
agriculture and commitment to policy reform.” It also works with more
than 160 companies as well as researchers in the US and around the
world.
To provide an understanding of the scope of Feed the Future, the
report spotlights activities in three countries, Senegal, Bangladesh,
and Honduras. In Senegal, activities have included increasing rice and
maize production, helping small farmers obtain financing and insurance,
and assisting them in negotiating contracts with processors.
“Intensifying rice production while helping farmers diversify into
higher value, nutrient-dense commodities such as horticulture and fish”
exemplifies the initiative’s work in Bangladesh. Honduran farmers have
benefitted from programs to “help ensure higher maize and bean
production for home consumption and encourage farmers to devote more
cropland to high-value coffee and horticulture crops to increase
income.” Despite a drop in coffee prices and an outbreak of coffee leaf
rust “more than 4,300 households…were moved well above the $1.25 poverty
threshold. Average per capita daily income shot up 237 percent, from
$0.71 to $2.39, among these families.”
Given limits on the availability of land, “the [Feed the Future
research] strategy emphasizes a unique approach called ‘sustainable
intensification,’ which focuses on growing greater amounts of more
nutritious food using fewer resources.” Activities that are a part of
this effort include protecting wheat yields from wheat stem rust;
developing and introducing climate-resilient maize varieties; making
more varieties of the common bean available through seed production
networks; making the most of soil through improved soil management
technologies; increasing the availability of animal-sourced food for
nutrition, income, and resilience; and producing more fruits and
vegetables for market sales.
“Every year, undernutrition contributes to 3.1 million child deaths –
45 percent of the worldwide total.” Feed the Future links agricultural
production and nutrition in order to reduce hunger and undernutrition.
“The initiative has an integrated, multi-sectoral approach to increase
access to nutrition services, improve hygiene and sanitation, and
support the cultivation and consumption of nutrient-dense crops.”
“Looking to the future, we must continue what works and forge ahead
in the fight to end poverty, hunger and undernutrition once and for
all,” the report concludes. ∆
DR. DARYLL E. RAY: Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy, Institute of Agriculture, University of Tennessee
DR. HARWOOD D. SCHAFFER: Research Assistant Professor at APAC, University of Tennessee
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