On November 22, Bread for the World Institute held a discussion on its new 2011 Hunger Report released today and titled "Our Common Interest: Ending Hunger and Malnutrition." The discussion panel was composed of David Beckmann, president, Bread for the World Institute; Rajiv Shah, administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Inger Andersen, vice-president, Sustainable Development- World Bank; and Carolyn Miles, chief operating officer, Save the Children USA.
The report focused on the global impact to the increase in hunger as a result of the 2008 food price crisis, and the United States’ role in promoting global investment for agriculture, food security, and malnutrition in developing countries. It found that strides for reducing hunger and malnutrition could be made if investments focused on country-led initiatives involving smallholder farmers and integrating nutrition and agriculture production. Dr. Rajiv Shah highlighted Feed the Future, a U.S. government initiative led by USAID to fight hunger and malnutrition globally, among other programs, as a foundation for progress.
Dr. Rajiv Shah emphasized the role of USAID in reducing hunger and malnutrition by describing some food security programs in Bangladesh and Guatemala. This event highlighted the importance of addressing malnutrition early in life in order to substantially impact a child’s health and opportunities in the long term. Likewise, it called for the need of an integrated approach of social behavioral strategies, agricultural productivity, nutrition and appropriate agricultural policy to reduce hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.
ASA, CSSA, and SSSA scientists and professionally certified consultants, play a fundamental role in achieving global food security through their involvement in education and research programs in the agricultural and environmental sciences. The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) has partnered with the Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) to implement the India Certified Crop Adviser (ICCA) Program to enable sustainable cereal production in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. This program provides agronomic professionals in India with a set of internationally recognized standards necessary to deliver high quality production recommendations that result in more efficient use of resources, better protection of the environment, and a higher quality of life for the farmers.
For a press release on this event, see the link
