Food Security
Three-quarters of the world’s poor and hungry are located in rural
areas. These people depend directly and indirectly on agriculture and
agriculture-related activities for their food and income. Increasing
agricultural productivity simultaneously addresses more food and more
incomes to purchase food. Increasing agricultural productivity has had
very powerful results in reducing poverty and food insecurity within
the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. This is a process that
presently developed countries have gone through, and future developed
countries will have to go through.
The cost of food insecurity is enormous. The persistence of chronic
hunger, malnutrition and threat of famine is simply unacceptable. USAID
has identified six key steps to increasing agricultural productivity
is key to increasing rural income and reducing food insecurity:
- Improving policy frameworks. Only with sound policies
in place can domestic and foreign private investment and
development assistance catalyze growth by helping people
solve the problems that all too often keep them poor and
food insecure.
- Boosting agricultural science and technology. Rising
agricultural productivity drives economic growth. Improved
agricultural technology is a key component for boosting
productivity. This includes support to agricultural research
and support to the application of improved technologies
and practices.
- Developing domestic market and international trade opportunities.
Expanding farmers’ commercial opportunities is critical
for ensuring adequate returns. This includes improving
domestic markets and international trade opportunities.
- Securing property rights and access to finance. Asset
distribution shapes broad-based progress because it determines
the impact of the economic beneifts. Asset distribution
also contributes to empowerment, hence participation and
ownership, by the larger proportion of the rural population.
- Enhancing human capital. Better education and improved
health contribute to greater scientific capacity, more
productive farmers, and better decision-makers over a range
of economic and non-economic activities.
- Protecting the vulnerable. Conflict prevention and resolution
mechanisms and democracy and governance based on principles
of accountability and transparency in public institutions
and the rule of law are basic to reducing vulnerability
in the short term and eliminate conditions that create
vulnerability over the long term.
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