THP perspective: The vast majority of those living in chronic hunger are women food farmers. Due to deeply entrenched gender discrimination, they are systematically denied the information, resources and freedom of action they need to be successful.

Key Interventions: THP works to ensure all small-scale farmers gain affordable access to the following:

• Gender equality
• Secure land rights
• Extension services
• Financial Services
• Improved seeds, tools and other inputs
• Sustainable/agroecological farming systems
• Small-scale irrigation
• Storage, to reduce waste, protect against price fluctuations and drought
• Markets and Value Chains

Key messages:

• Investments in agriculture are twice as effective at reducing poverty as any other. (WDR 2008)
• If women farmers had equal access to inputs, it would move 150 million people out of hunger (SOFA 2010-11).
• Aid going to agriculture has declined for 30 years. (UN 2009)

Global campaigns and initiatives:

• World Food Day. October 16, the day of the founding of the FAO.
• Zero Hunger Challenge:  The personal advocacy campaign of the UN Secretary-General, with 5 goals, launched at the 2012 Rio Earth Summit. THP is a partner. It is accompanied by an independent Community for Zero Hunger, at which John Coonrod serves as an advisor.
• L’Aquila Pledge: The 2009 G8 commitment to reverse the decline of aid to agriculture (completed in 2012) that let to the US Government’s Feed the Future initiative.
• New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition – the G8 initiative in 2012 that followed the L’Aquila pledge, and seeks to mobilize private sector investment in African agriculture.
• GROW Africa: An economic initiative of the Africa Union and the World Economic Forum.
• 2020 Vision: Series of IFPRI conferences begun in 1995 – the next will be in Addis in 2014 and will focus on resilience.
• World Food Prize: Established by Nobel Peace Prize winner and father of the Green Revolution Norman Borlaug in 1986 (who served for many years on our Africa Prize Jury), as the “Nobel Prize for Agriculture” – first awarded to our former chair M.S. Swaminathan. It is awarded on World Food Day and is accompanied by a symposium – the Borlaug Dialogue.
• Agr-ProFocus. A partnership with Dutch roots to promote farm entrepreneurship.
• Chicago Council on Global Affairs – Global Agriculture Development Initiative, holds a major conference each year in Washington.

Key agencies:

• Gates Foundation – Agriculture Strategy
• Committee on Food Security/ the CFS HLPE: High Level Panel of Experts, and Civil Society Mechanism
• UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• CAADP: Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. “CAADP is the agricultural programme of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which in turn is a programme of the African Union (AU). Established by the AU assembly in 2003” in the Maputo Declaration. It aims to raise] agricultural productivity by at least 6% per year and increase public investment in agriculture to 10% of national budgets per year.
• AGRA: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Gates/Rockefeller)
• IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute, a Washington-based think-tank that is part of the CGIAR system.

Key reports and data sources:

• FAO’s 2014 report on The State Of Food and Agriculture (SOFA 2014) focuses on the vital role of family farms for food security, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability.
• 2014 State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI 2014) Report confirmed that there are still 805 million people – more than half of whom are in Asia – suffering from chronic malnourishment.
• The 2014 Global Hunger Index, now available from the International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide, shows a steady decrease in hunger in most developing countries.
• Gender and Agriculture Sourcebook. By IFAD, World Bank and FAO

Relevant posts on this site:

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Key blogs and newsfeeds:

• Nourishing the Planet, focus on agroecology – by World Watch Institute
• FoodTank, co-founded by the former head of Nourishing the Planet.
• The Guardian – Global Development Professionals Blog
• Global Food for Thought – Expert commentary and analysis on global agriculture and food- by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Must read books:

• Chambers, Robert (1983), Rural Development – Putting the Last First. One of the first books to take a participatory approach, with deep skepticism to the role of “outsiders.”
• Thurow, Roger (2012), The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change. A wonderfully-written story following four women farmers in Kenya working with the One Acre Fund.