On May 20, I attended the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington, D.C. The event reviewed progress on the government’s Feed the Future strategy and looked at how long-term support for agricultural development can advance global security, stability and economic prosperity. The Progress Report on U.S. Leadership in Global Agricultural Development was released at the event.
The Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative co-chair Dan Glickman said “We’re witnessing the start of an exciting new phase of U.S.-supported agricultural development. Even though many of these initiatives and programs are just getting off the ground, we can see how new partnerships, technologies and farmer-support systems are bringing benefits to developing country farmers.”
In his keynote address, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said, “As we support the work of farming families in Africa and South Asia, we’re affirming a vital part of our national character as Americans: our belief that we can and should build a better world.” To date the Foundation has committed $1.7 billion to fight poverty in Africa, largely in agriculture.
Agribusiness leaders who participated in the symposium talked about the importance of the public and private sectors working together. Chris Policinski, President and CEO, Land O’Lakes, Inc., stated “The reason we’ve invested our time, expertise and resources is that we recognize the critical link between food security and economic prosperity and political stability. Ultimately, investing in development isn’t just ‘doing good,’ it’s an economic and social imperative.” Derek Yach, Senior VP, Global Health and Agriculture Policy from PepsiCo added that the United States is behind the curve compared to European and even African countries because we are still debating about the right model for partnerships while others are already acting and making significant progress, such as the Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT).
The Council’s progress report graded Feed the Future on a variety of indicators, but did not include an evaluation of USG’s work to leverage private sector resources to advance agriculture, which is a fundamental component of Feed the Future. IGD plans to continue our work to help achieve this outcome and supports the Council’s role in promoting food security as a high priority for USG.
