2. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
Late 1950s: 1 billion people go hungry every day
Late 1950s: 1 billion people go hungry every day
Scientists, policymakers, and farmers
initiate push to boost agricultural
production and productivity
• Global availability of food is
Global availability of food is
increased
• Access to food improved
p
• Quality of food enhanced
IRRI
2009: 1 billion people go hungry every day
3. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
Why this initiative?
Why this initiative?
• Identify and examine successes
Identify and examine successes
• Assess the evidence on what works
• Draw out the lessons they offer
4. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
How did we proceed?
How did we proceed?
• Throwing the net out
Throwing the net out
• Sorting the catch
g
• Selecting the most appropriate cases
• Synthesizing the evidence
6. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
Intensifying
I if i
staple food
production
Improving food
Integrating
quality and
people and the
human
environment
nutrition
Reforming
Expanding the
y
economy‐wide
role of markets
l f k t
policies
Diversifying
y g
out of major
cereals
7. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
Fighting a “Shifty Enemy”
Fighting a “Shifty Enemy”
The international
NOS
collaboration to contain
ll b i i
Jeremy Horner/PAN
wheat rusts
• Challenge: Stem and leaf rust destroying wheat fields around the
ld
world
• Innovation: Global effort leveraging modern science to breed rust‐
i t t i ti
resistant varieties
• Impact: 117 million hectares of land protected from wheat rust;
Food security for 60 120 million rural households
Food security for 60‐120 million rural households
Author: H. J. Dubin and John P. Brennan
8. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
vices
Resisting Viruses and Bugs
Resisting Viruses and Bugs
/Catholic Relief Serv
Cassava in Sub‐Saharan Africa
Debbie DeVoe/
• Challenge: Spread of mosaic virus disease and mealybug pest
generating major losses for cassava, a staple food crop
• Innovation: Breeding of disease‐resistant cassava varieties, and
introduction of a parasitic wasp to destroy mealybug
• Impact: Breeding increased yields by 40%; Pest control
prevented yield losses of 2.5 tons/hectare;
29 million additional people fed
29 million additional people fed
Author: Felix Nweke
9. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
Crossing the River While
Crossing the River While
Feeling the Rocks
OS
Land‐tenure reform in China
L dt f i Chi
Qilai Shen/PANO
• Challenge: Widespread food shortages after more than 30 years of
collective agriculture
ll ti i lt
• Innovation: Policy reforms reintroducing household farming, returning
more than 95% of farmland to 160 million rural households
more than 95% of farmland to 160 million rural households
• Impact: 1978‐84: increase in grain production by 34%; increase in
rural incomes by 137%; reduction in rural poverty by 22%
rural incomes by 137%; reduction in rural poverty by 22%
Author: John W. Bruce and Zongmin Li
10. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
Diversifying into Healthy Diets
Diversifying into Healthy Diets
ational
Homestead food production in
Helen Keller Interna
Bangladesh
H
• Challenge: Micronutrient deficiencies, such as Vitamin A, resulting in
night blindness
• Innovation: Home gardening of micronutrient‐rich vegetables, small
livestock production, and nutrition education
• Impact: Tripling in vegetable production; 73% of gardens
managed by women; improved food security for 5
million people
Authors: Lora Iannotti, Kenda Cunningham, and Marie Ruel
11. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
Why did it work?
• Science and technology
• Complementary investments
immons, University of Arizona
• Private incentives
• Cooperation and collaboration
• Timing and planning
Timing and planning
Kevin Fitzsi
• Experimentation and evolution
NDDB
One Acre Fund
• Community involvement
• Leadership and dedication IRRI
12. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
What can we learn?
• Success is not unambiguous
Success is not unambiguous
• Success is a process
• Success is not a substitute for strategy
• Success is recognizable
13. www.ifpri.org/millionsfed
More successes are needed
• Persistence of hunger
g
A billion people still go hungry today
• New stresses
New stresses
Climate change
M k
Market volatility
l ili
Demographic changes
• Keep food security and agriculture high on the global
agenda