G20 leaders launch initiative to boost food security in developing countries

Leaders at the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, have launched a $100m initiative that aims to boost food security in developing countries in close cooperation with the private sector.

The AgResults initiative will use pull mechanisms to encourage innovation through results-based payments such as incentives that are paid out when certain objectives have been met.

The governments of Australia, Canada, Italy, the UK, the US, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are supporting the initiative. The funds from the donor countries will be managed by the World Bank.

Under the initiative, public funds will be provided to only those partners who demonstrate measurable results in specific areas such as the improvment of harvest management and the nutritional fortification of staple foods.

A number of pilot projects will be launched under the initiative to address some of the major problems in global food security and agricultural development.

The initial project, which is set to be introduced later in 2012, will focus on maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa. It will provide incentives to smallholder farmers for adopting on-farm storage technology, establish a market for new vitamin A-enhanced varieties of maize, and promote the distribution of breakthrough technology to lower aflatoxin contamination.

Additional projects, which will be explored in the coming years, will look into increasing the adoption of livestock vaccines, fertiliser innovation, improving crop yields, lowering post-harvest losses, increasing livestock productivity and improving nutrition.

AgResults was developed in response to the need for increased investment in global food security and agriculture in order to feed the growing world population.

Leaders at the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto committed to evaluate ways of leveraging research and development in the private sector to address food security challenges, which led to a two-year effort to develop AgResults, culminating in the launch of the initiative.

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Image: G20’s AgResults will initially focus on maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa by providing incentives to smallholder farmers for adopting on-farm storage technology. Photo: Pratheepps