A primary cause of global hunger is armed conflict. Bread for the World’s Hunger Hotspots series draws attention to the many war-torn areas around the world where people have been driven to the brink of famine.

The eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one such place. Armed conflict has broken out sporadically for the past several decades. Fighting over the last two years has displaced millions of people—who, without access to their farms, have no way to produce food. According to UNICEF, at the start of 2025, fighting in the DRC “escalated to levels not seen in decades.”

The sheer numbers of people in desperate need of food and clean water may often leave humanitarian workers feeling discouraged, especially in sites for displaced persons. Local organizations recognize that it is vital to do everything possible to enable people to get back on their feet, even if their numbers are a small part of the total.

As Bread’s April 2025 piece, “Dire Straits in the DRC,” explains, Idjwi Island, situated in Lake Kivu between the two major cities of Goma and Bukavu, is a longtime sanctuary from violence. The Congo Peace Academy, led by Bienfait Mugenza, began its Agri Peace Program here.

It enables the planting not only of crops, but even more powerful intangibles: peace, purpose, and the promise of renewal.

As a speaker at Bread’s March 2025 Hunger Hotspots briefing at the Nutrition for Growth Summit, Mugenza offered an analysis of the larger context of eastern DRC and described his group’s work.

In a follow-up letter to Bread for the World, he writes:

“This year, the Peace Academy is proud to expand its Agri Peace Program—already a catalyst for transformation on Idjwi Island—to the communities of Minova and Sake. These areas have become refuge for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs), families forced to flee their homes by relentless conflict and the advance (sic) of armed groups. For those returning to devastated villages with nothing but hope, the road to recovery can feel impossible. But with the right tools, practical training, and the restoration of trust, we can help turn despair into resilience — and rebuild not just livelihoods, but lives.

“Our approach integrates conservation agriculture, peace education, and economic empowerment. It is anchored in the Foundation for Farming (FFF) methodology, a faith-driven, climate-smart farming model that restores degraded soils and enables farmers to produce more with less.

“The goal is simple but profound: equip those affected by war to feed themselves and their neighbors while healing the wounds that violence leaves behind.

“The Peace Academy’s 14 experienced trainers are poised to train 480 ‘champion farmers’—displaced individuals, including women and youth—who will return to their home villages and pass on what they’ve learned to others. These champion farmers become catalysts of transformation, rebuilding not only food systems but fractured community bonds.

“Each participant in the Agri Peace Program receives hands-on instruction in conservation agriculture techniques (which include no tilling as well as mulching, proper spacing, and composting); small-scale irrigation and water management; organic pest control and soil restoration; trauma healing, reconciliation, and nonviolent communication; and financial literacy and cooperative savings models.

“Through this initiative, we seek to position farming not only as a driver of food security and economic resilience, but also as a powerful platform for promoting social cohesion and building sustainable peace.

“We have seen this work. On Idjwi Island, FFF-trained farmers have tripled their yields. Communities once dependent on food aid are now selling surplus in local markets and using proceeds to send children to school. These are not isolated miracles—they are replicable solutions. And now, as thousands of IDPs return home from overcrowded camps, they are asking for the same tools to rebuild their lives.

“The project will be implemented over a six-month period, during which 14 full-time trainers will receive monthly stipends and be provided with essential materials, including hoes, watering cans, seeds, tarpaulins, boots, and training manuals. Upon completion of their training and certification, the 480 champion farmers will transition into trainers themselves, equipped with the skills, tools, and resources necessary to replicate the training within their communities and establish demonstration plots.”

JoAnn C. Sparacino, a retired U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Foreign Service Officer, has seen Congo Peace Academy’s work up close, particularly during the two years she lived in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. Sparacino said, “I can attest to the impactful and courageous work of the Congo Peace Academy, led by Bienfait Mugenza, in Goma and on the island of Idjwi where [Mugenza] is from.” She is working to secure support for the efforts of the Congo Peace Academy and other civil society groups to help people displaced by conflict resume their lives. She asks for support for the Congo Peace Academy as it expands its work to serve nearby communities.

Bienfait Mugenza is the founder and director of the Congo Peace Academy and winner of the $50,000 2024 Projects for Peace Alumni Award. Michele Learner is managing editor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

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Editor’s Note: Bread for the World Climate Intern Anke Marais recently conducted fieldwork in Malawi as the teaching assistant to a student group. She plans to work with the group to co-author a report for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. This article is based on that fieldwork. 

Malawi – a small country in southern Africa that is also known as the “warm heart of Africa”– is a nation defined by both its rich agricultural heritage and stark economic burdens. 

Malawi is among the world’s poorest countries. Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of the population lives in extreme poverty.  Malawi’s economy is dominated by agriculture, the sector where 80 percent of its population makes a living. 

This extreme concentration leaves the country highly vulnerable to climate change, with impacts that are increasingly evident, including three major cyclones and severe drought over the past three years. Extreme weather has worsened hunger and malnutrition in rural communities where most families are subsistence farmers, eating mainly what they grow themselves. 

The nation’s staple crop, maize – locally known as “chimanga”—dominates farming. Maize has significant disadvantages. It is not drought-tolerant, which is more important than ever due to weather extremes. Planting it season after season degrades the quality of the soil. Moreover, maize alone does not contain enough nutrients to qualify as a healthy diet. Farmers also grow crops like cowpeas, pigeon peas, groundnuts, soybeans, and other crops, but the ability to produce a reliable crop with predictable yields is weakened by erratic weather patterns and inconsistent rainfall. All these disruptions directly threaten the food security and economic survival of millions of people. 

This is where the CGIAR centers (the acronym is based on the organization’s former name, the International Consortium of Agricultural Research Centers) play a crucial role. Several CGIAR research centers, including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, contributed to this project. 

IITA has introduced various Sustainable Intensification trials, whose goals are to increase crop production per unit of land; help the community develop plans to enhance its ecosystems; and enable people to be more resilient to climate shocks. These objectives align with IITA’s broader mission of alleviating poverty, strengthening food security and nutrition, and enhancing the management of natural resources and ecosystem services.

In 2023, IITA surveyed 232 households in the Kasungu district of Malawi as part of a larger baseline study to characterize farming systems and establish farm typologies based on existing farming practices and current socioeconomic conditions.

The CGIAR centers then launched “mother” farmer trials on 44 farms that had been selected to reflect the region’s diversity. Both “mother” and “baby” farmers are participating in the first three years of the project. “Mother” farmers manage their trial plots to demonstrate best practices, while “baby” farmers observe and assess whether they should adopt these practices in their own fields. The trials aim to evaluate conservation agriculture techniques such as intercropping, crop rotation, and strip cropping, determining their effectiveness in enhancing yield, feed availability, and resilience. 

Recently, a team of students from a university in Washington, DC, under the guidance of Dr. Julius Manda from IITA, travelled to Malawi to assess the progress of the trials in their second year. Over the course of a week, they conducted focus group discussions, interviews, and observations with more than 100 farmers, along with market visits in the Kasungu region. They engaged with mother and baby farmers, vendors, buyers, agro-vet dealers, and extension officers. 

The goal was to understand farmers’ perceptions of the techniques being undertaken, the barriers to success, and the opportunities, offered through these trials, to strengthen food security and ways of earning a living while building climate resilience. 

“The interest we are getting from you feels empowering. Now, I know my friends and neighbors that don’t believe in these methods will be more curious about the adaptations we are making on our farms. I also hope to convince more women in my community to become baby farmers.” – Rosa, female baby farmer and Focus Group Discussion participant 

There was widespread agreement among farmers that the Sustainable Intensification trials are improving yields. This demonstrates their potential to enhance food security more broadly. For some participants, the urgency of climate change risks motivated some participants to put the trial practices into effect despite the uncertain outcomes. Several challenges remain to be addressed, including delayed access to seeds, limited credit availability, and intensive labor demands during the initial phases of the implementation.

One of these challenges is also an unforeseen opportunity. The heightened labor demands have expanded the scope of transferring knowledge since casual laborers on the mother farms, although not official participants, are also learning from the trials. Despite the obstacles they encounter, many farmers remain hopeful that their efforts will ultimately strengthen food security and enhance resilience.

Ivy, a young mother working as a casual laborer on one of the trial farms, exemplifies the broader impact of the agricultural initiatives. Although her current role is limited to assisting on a mother farm, Ivy envisions using the knowledge gained to apply these practices to her own land in the future. This ambition resonates with other casual laborers, who see the trials as a pathway to improving their livelihoods and bolstering their families’ food security. Some laborers receive food as part of their compensation—a far more immediate impact on food security. 

Some farmer groups are expanding the application of these new agricultural techniques beyond the official trial plots, tailoring them to better meet their nutritional needs. Early signs of crop diversification have emerged from these efforts. Intercropping common beans with maize is showing promise in enhancing local diets and improving nutrition. This approach is gaining favor over crops such as pigeon peas and mucuna, another type of legume, which some groups find less suitable for their needs.

Through ongoing research and collaboration, the efforts of IITA and other members of the CGIAR Consortium pave the way for a more resilient and food-secure Malawi, contributing to a sustainable future in the face of an increasingly unpredictable climate.

Anke Marais is a climate intern, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

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Bread for the World emphasizes that while it is extremely important for the world to end hunger by ensuring that people have access to nutritious meals, providing food is not enough, by itself, to end hunger in a lasting way.

People want to be able to plan for the future while supporting their children, elderly relatives, and others. Beyond food, they need livelihoods. They need dignity from a day’s wage.

In the U.S., we usually call this a job. It could be a job or a small business, entrepreneurial activities, or skills in specialized tasks. It is a way of earning a living and having pride and dignity in a day’s wage whether that is a job in an office, as a smallholder farmer, selling goods in a market, or running a small business. Having a livelihood enables human productivity and access to capital.

Access to capital for the world’s smallholder women farmers fosters financial inclusion and is a key pathway from poverty to prosperity. Affordable financial products and services — like savings, credit, and insurance — are often the difference between living hand-to-mouth on meager returns and running a profitable agribusiness, earning a sustainable living income, and growing savings to better weather unexpected market or climate shocks.

Since its creation through the Foreign Assistance Act under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy in1961, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has served as the lead U.S. national security agency on international humanitarian and development work. It has done its work in in partnership with local organizations in the public, private, academic, and non-profit sectors in the over 60 countries where it currently operates.

USAID’s current “localization” strategy works to prioritize increasing the amount of foreign assistance funding it channels through local actors. It also facilitates local input into program design, recognizing that this is important for fostering sustainable results. USAID set a target of providing at least 25 percent of its program funds to local partners by the end of FY2025.

USAID bridges its localization efforts across the interagency—including the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), PEPFAR, the Inter-American Foundation, and the Department of State, among others—to ensure that their programming is aligned and that their legislative and budgetary requests reflect a coherent localization vision and implementation plan.

USAID’s Feed the Future initiative is an example of the transformative impact of an interagency whole of government approach, enabling USAID to carry out its mandate alongside 11 U.S. agencies. Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s flagship global food security initiative, was established as the bipartisan response to the devastating 2007 and 2008 food price crisis, when food costs increased dramatically, sending millions of people into hunger. Currently, Feed the Future concentrates its efforts and investments in 24 priority countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean in response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which destabilized food, fuel, and fertilizer access.

Another agency that is part of Feed the Future is the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC), positioning the U.S. for opportunities to utilize agriculture as a development and trade tool.

An estimated 1.4 billion adults remain unbanked according to the World Bank Group because of barriers to capital and lack of physical, data, and financial infrastructure. With women less likely than men to have their name on an account, the work of USAID, DFC, and other U.S. private sector actors remain crucial. As part of U.S. agencies working to advance Feed the Future, the DFC is empowering women worldwide by strengthening local communities and economies through its2X Women’s Initiative, which is committed to addressing the unique challenges women face globally and unlocking the multi-trillion dollar opportunity they represent. Through 2X, DFC has catalyzed billions of investments for small businesses and in projects that are owned by women, led by women, or provide a product or service that empowers women. DFC also applies a gender lens to every project it considers, to help ensure that women will benefit.

Some of the key initiatives the DFC has carried out in the agricultural sector alone include financing that has supported Pakistani women farmers suffering from climate related crop loss, to its more global wide reach through its loan guarantee facility in partnership with the U.S. based company Root Capital.

Root Capital offers farmers around the world a path to prosperity by investing in agricultural businesses that serve as engines of impact in their communities. Root Capital provides these businesses with the capital, training, and access to markets farmers need to grow, thrive, and create opportunities for thousands of farmers at a time. Root Capital has provided more than $2 billion in loans to 843 agricultural businesses in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Together, these businesses have bought and marketed crops for 2.3 million smallholder farmers.

Through its partnership with the DFC, in advancing USAID’s agricultural development work, Root Capital was able to sustain livelihoods for more than one million farmers — more than half of whom were women — in 21 countries in Africa and Latin America. This work, in coordination with the DFC and a U.S. company empowering local women, provides critical bridges that USAID’s localization efforts help build, fostering enabling trade environments for U.S. and local small businesses.

The importance of USAID’s localization strategy and how it can help unleash appropriate financing for women smallholders cannot be overstated. It is a lifeline that the U.S. government should be proud to continue to fund and support.

Abiola Afolayan is director, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

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Bread for the World often mentions that hunger and malnutrition have several root causes, including armed conflict, poverty, economic downturns, inequality, and extreme weather events. There is no single solution to hunger because there is no single cause.

This means that solving a complex problem like hunger requires addressing related socioeconomic conditions as well. This recognition that issues are interdependent led to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We know, for example, that Bread’s main area of focus—ending hunger and malnutrition—is connected with progress on other SDGs such as gender equity and climate action.

The fact that almost every country has committed to the SDGs is also very important. Despite wide differences in the world, it is a fact that we all share this planet, its resources, and its problems. 

One key strategy to end hunger is to advance a Just Transition. The main goal of a Just Transition is to prioritize workers and critical sectors as the world shifts to more sustainable and fair economic frameworks. Change, even positive change, can disrupt local and national economies. For example, smallholder farmers or people in rural communities may face barriers to obtaining financing, training, or access to programs that help them build resilience to extreme weather events or navigate new sustainability practices. 

Because of these barriers, it is important to prioritize, protect, and empower family farmers and rural communities, helping them produce food while also bearing the brunt of climate shocks. Governments, civil society, and the private sector can work to make food systems more resilient and sustainable, particularly during 2025 in the lead-up to COP-30, the next U.N. global climate conference. 

In an interview with the Inter Press Service, Moises Savian, Brazil’s Secretary of Land Governance, Territorial and Socio Environmental Development at the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming, highlighted the need to improve access to finance in rural areas.  

Savian noted, “We are formulating a specific national plan for family farming, which constitutes the majority of our rural population. These communities are often the most affected by climate extremes, so public policies are essential. … Without this focus on [rural food system transformation],” he added, “there can be no just transition.”

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated in its 2024 State of Food and Agriculture report that global food systems generate over $11.6 trillion annually in adverse social, health, and environmental costs. These are sometimes known as “hidden” costs because they are often not included as economic costs. Policy interventions that recognize power imbalances and account for environmental damage should be used to reduce these hidden costs.

The report cites examples of how public policy can reduce hidden costs. One is to enact regulatory or financial incentives to adopt sustainable agricultural practices. Another is to design rural livelihoods strategies that minimize, but also include, hidden costs.

Reducing hidden costs and promoting a Just Transition requires policies that elevate farmers into emerging sustainable markets. This is only part of a larger effort to enact national economic strategies that guide industries, workers, and consumers through a transition to resilient food systems that pollute less and nourish more. 

COP30 will take place in the heart of the Amazon in Belem, Brazil. Sustainable food systems will be top of mind because Brazil is both a significant agricultural net exporter and a key player in conservation. Approximately 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest is within Brazil’s borders. These circumstances have shaped Brazil’s approach to ending hunger sustainably, primarily through new economic and market strategies. 

 A New Climate Economy for the Brazilian Amazon, a 2023 report led by the World Resources Institute, articulates how an economic structure that accounts for the social and environmental impacts of economic decisions could help benefit the agricultural sector. The report calls this a socio-bioeconomy.

The World Resources Institute analysis for Brazil found that fully developing a socio-bioeconomy could create an additional 312,00 jobs and preserve an additional 81 million hectares (about 202 million acres) of standing forest by 2050, while also achieving net zero deforestation. Brazil’s socio-bioeconomy plan uses Just Transition principles to ensure that family farmers have equal access to funding and other resources so that they can become climate-resilient rather than climate-vulnerable. Particularly since family farms produce 23 percent of the nation’s goods and employ over half of rural workers, they need access to technologies and tools that can enable them to participate in a Just Transition.

The world is capable of moving more quickly this coming year to end hunger and malnutrition. Governments, civil society, and private agricultural interests should focus on protecting farmers and resources for future generations as they continue to lead, learn, and take action to end hunger and malnutrition. Simultaneously, the global community can learn from successes and challenges in Brazil’s efforts to improve livelihoods and end hunger while protecting the Earth. 

Isabel C. Vander Molen is a Climate-Hunger Fellow at Bread for the World.

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One of Bread for the World’s continuing priorities is achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted by nearly every country, including the United States, in 2015. 

While Bread’s primary focus is SDG 2, ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition, the goals are interconnected. This is certainly true when it comes to the need for healthy food systems. “Food system” means simply all the steps involved in feeding people—”from farm to fork.”

Food systems are essential both to ending hunger and malnutrition and to slowing climate change and enabling people to adapt to its impacts. Bread advocates for policies and investments that make food systems more effective, meaning that they enable people to access nutritious food, support long-term sustainability, and offer equitable opportunities to earn a living. 

One of the many essential components of establishing effective food systems is enabling mid-size and small-scale farmers both to feed their communities, and to prepare for climate and economic shocks so that they can recover more quickly. The U.S. farm bill’s conservation title includes funding for programs that help farmers manage the financial risks associated with reducing their environmental impact. 

In Porter County, Indiana, for example, Brad Hunter was able to pilot a no-till farming initiative intended to enhance the soil quality on the cover-cropped farm he operates. Hunter needed specific climate-funding support in order to modernize his farm operations, and he received it through the farm bill’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). “It’s not easy to step out and do something different on the farm. You question whether it will work … The equipment you need is expensive,” Hunter said.

Thus far, securing funding for conservation at levels that meet the needs has proven difficult. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, allocated $18 billion for agricultural conservation, distributed among four programs: EQIP, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program, and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. But this amount is $4.25 billion less than proposed under the Build Back Better Act, 

To scale up investments in agricultural modernization and other initiatives that will help farmers like Hunter build resilience, the United States needs a detailed country roadmap. It should include an ambitious policy framework and clear targets, organized by sector, that coordinate investments from the private, public, and philanthropic sectors. In 2023, the United States was among 160 countries that pledged to start working on such a roadmap by endorsing the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Food Systems. 

The Emirates Declaration focuses on elevating nutrition-related priorities—and the funding allocated to them, specified in a country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)—within existing national climate strategies. These newly prominent goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving nutrition outcomes within the food system, as well as enabling people to increase their incomes and strengthen their resilience to climate shocks. The United States was joined by several other countries and regional groupings whose food systems produce significant amounts of greenhouse gases, including Brazil, China, and the European Union. 

The U.S. NDC signals to Congress, the private sector, and civil society organizations that there are new opportunities to work alongside the rest of the world in coordinating investment, advocacy, and policy improvements with the goal of modernizing global agriculture. Agriculture is one of the most sensitive sectors to environmental and climate change. Using the U.S. NDC to spur greater private sector investments is critical to marshaling the necessary funding to make farming healthier for people and the planet. Climate-resilient practices that limit the adverse environmental impacts of current farming techniques are urgently needed and will benefit everyone.

All countries are to establish new NDCs in 2025. The U.S. NDC could be released as early as November 2024, during the 29^th annual U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. The U.S. government should adopt an NDC with ambitious targets that will allow our country to move toward a more effective food system. This will enable people to eat more nutritious foods, promote equity for food system workers, and help farmers like Hunter adopt agricultural techniques that are more climate-resilient. Smallholder farmers will ultimately benefit from less severe climate change impacts as well—the result of reduced greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. agribusiness and other food system emitters. 

Isabel Vander Molen is a climate-hunger fellow, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World. 

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Although my family was able to withstand some of these challenges, they, like so many Pan African farmers today, still find themselves in situations where their lands are still being assaulted; grabbed; deforested; and affected by climate change, contaminated water, exploited labor practices, and food insecurity in the United States and globally. 

Consider the following: Globally, 70 percent of water is used for agriculture, 40 percent of arable land is used for agriculture, 80 percent of the food we eat is cultivated by smallholder farmers, and 30 percent of food is wasted. This was pointed out at a recent consultation where Bread for the World was a co-lead with other global faith leaders in Nairobi, Kenya. The UN Environment Programme Emissions Gap Reports have highlighted agriculture and forestry as areas where there is huge scope for emissions reduction. 

In the United States, climate grants to Black farmers seek to address some of this through the Biden-Harris administration’s $3.1 billion Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities grant program. One of the hopes is to build trust with these farmers and convince them to adopt practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But this goal, alongside of the goal of seeking redress of centuries of discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is not without challenges. 

Some of the biggest projects being funded through this “Partnership” are led by big for-profit companies and various agricultural lobby groups. Such groups are being scrutinized by Black farmers and other “historically underserved” farmers for not thinking though ways with the farmers to serve them. This is further complicated by the historic mistrust of Black farmers and other “historically underserved” farmers with these groups and the USDA itself.

Labor Day reminds us that labor is not only a conversation about equitable work. It is also a conversation about ownership and stewardship of land and production for work to exist equitably. The history of Pan African farmers, globally or nationally, is one that has and continues to painfully haunt this conversation of inequities and injuries. Two of the ways we address this conversation is by electing government leaders who will seriously engage these probing questions and advocacy. The new Nourish Our Future campaign at Bread for the World (bread.org ) will include a policy platform that seeks to advocate with Pan African communities. This is key to successful change with and for all.

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

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Earth Day– April 22—is a day to mobilize people around the world to pursue environmental justice on behalf of all creation. Bread for the World has emphasized that healthy food systems are essential to ending hunger. In turn, strong food systems depend on the well-being of the Earth, its inhabitants, and its environment and climate.

Yet problems within food systems are the main cause of biodiversity loss. Food systems are also a significant cause of pollution and resource degradation, both of which accelerate climate change. Transforming food systems is a key part of meeting three important goals: protecting the planet, improving people’s nutrition, and ending hunger.  To end hunger caused by climate change, U.S. and global leaders must take action to improve food systems and accelerate their environmental stewardship efforts. 

Worldwide, food systems are responsible for 70 percent of all biodiversity loss on land. This is because most large-scale farming operations practice monocropping – the practice of repeatedly planting just one type of crop per season—so that the natural plant and animal variety in a given area is replaced by a single homogenous group. Out of the thousands of edible plant varieties on the planet, just 10 crops provide 83 percent of all harvested food calories.

These commodity crops include corn, soy, and wheat. Most of what is grown is used in the industrial, export, or processing sectors and as animal feed, rather than going directly to feed people—and the share of land used to grow crops directly for human consumption is decreasing. While animal-based foods can be valuable sources of protein, the growing demand for them has made the agriculture and livestock sector the main cause of deforestation. This sector is also the source of 26 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the food system. 

Commodity crops also have implications for human nutrition. Because they are grown in such large quantities, they are the most readily available and least expensive foods. They are usually high in calories and low in nutritional content. Thus, nutritious foods become an unaffordable luxury for many families. There is a clear link related to overproduction of less nutritious crops, lower prices for meat and for foods made from these crops, and their overconsumption, which is associated with higher risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

Commodity and monocrop-based food systems contribute to environmental degradation and climate change. Diverse and healthy ecosystems provide a sustainable landscape for farming by filtering freshwater, replenishing soil nutrients, and pollinating a variety of plants. However, commodity-driven and monocrop farming reduce the effectiveness of the many roles played by healthy ecosystems in maintaining conditions necessary for farming, such as revitalizing the fertility of the soil.

Additionally, farmers begin to rely more heavily on stronger pesticides, fertilizers, and industrial inputs to keep their businesses and crops afloat. These inputs contribute to further air and water pollution, other forms of damage to resources, and overall ecosystem fragility. It is therefore important to support improvements in food systems that will align them with nutritional and ecological wellness goals, so that all components reinforce each other. 

Empowering farmers to diversify their businesses by investing in different types of crops and farming methods that complement and work well with natural ecosystems is critical to delivering the best nutritional outcomes and choices for consumers. It is also crucial to ensure that farms and agribusinesses can continue to operate even during a crisis caused by climate change, resource shortages, or other problems. A U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report on reaching zero hunger while limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius recommends that governments adjust crop subsidies and food taxes so that producers and consumers are encouraged to grow and eat more foods that are nutritious and good for the environment but not yet grown in large quantities. 

Similarly, the 5^th National Climate Assessment, a study of climate change impacts in the United States, recommends diversifying diets to include more produce and nutrient-rich foods to meet national food security, health, and climate goals. These changes could be facilitated by policies in the U.S. farm bill, which governs much of federal food and farm policy.

Adapting farming techniques is just one component of ensuring that food systems are healthy for people and the environment, but it is an essential one. Other important steps to ending hunger include boosting farmers’ access to markets, improving purchasing decisions, and raising consumer awareness. 

Caring for creation means caring for all of creation—human, animal, and plant. The benefits of doing so stem from the fact that their interconnections are symbiotic. Taking actions to make our food systems more biodiverse and to prevent further degradation of resources will ultimately enable our food systems to improve the condition of natural ecosystems and expand people’s access to nutritious foods.

 Isabel Vander Molen is a climate-hunger fellow, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

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Another sign is that unusual weather patterns, including more severe natural disasters, are more common. Communities around the world are at greater risk of floods, hurricanes, droughts, wildfires, and other catastrophes. 

As Bread for the World emphasizes, it is lower-income nations, most of whom produce very low levels of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, that are suffering most. The United States is not immune, however. For example, many western states experienced severe drought in 2021 and 2022.

The world, particularly countries that are among the top producers of greenhouse gases, has done too little to stop or slow climate change. Countries and communities will continue to face climate impacts. Agriculture and food systems—which are often dependent on climate conditions like rainfall—are particularly vulnerable to these impacts. This is why Bread advocates for increased support for climate adaptation in lower-income countries, especially for communities dependent on farming. Climate adaptation includes a wide range of activities to help ensure that, despite facing climate impacts, people are able to feed their families, protect their health, earn a living, and otherwise thrive.  

One promising way of enabling farmers to adapt is to invest in the research and development of seeds and crops that can survive and thrive under drought conditions. These are often called “climate-resilient” varieties. For example, maize (corn) is an important basic food in many countries. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), headquartered in Mexico, has been studying ways of formulating maize seeds that are climate resilient. As a result of the research, there is now a breed that has produced a harvest of between 5 percent and  25 percent more than standard maize, even under drought conditions.

CIMMYT is one part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a global partnership aimed at conducting research for a food-secure future. The goal is to improve basic crops such as maize, wheat, and sorghum, so that smallholder farmers will have more secure livelihoods and their communities’ food systems will be more productive and inclusive.  

Farming has always been an uncertain way of making a living. Even without climate change, so much is beyond human control. The majority of people in many lower-income countries—including the majority of people living with hunger—still work in agriculture. Agricultural insurance is a tool that can help farmers when climate extremes disrupt their crops or livestock. As with other types of insurance, farmers pay premiums, and later their insurance compensates them for climate-related losses. This ensures that farmers are able to keep feeding their families. They are also more likely to have what they need to farm in the next growing season. 

Farming and other human endeavors have changed the landscape of many parts of the world, often in ways that make extreme, highly destructive flooding more likely. For example, in 2022, flooding in the Sindh Province of Pakistan was expected to destroy 80 percent of the rice harvest. 

Deforestation, mainly to expand the land available for cattle ranching, has claimed about 17 percent of the Amazon Rainforest over the past 50 years. Trees and shrubs help prevent flash floods since more rainfall is absorbed into the ground. This is why planting or replanting trees and shrubs and integrating them into farmed lands—known as agroforestry—can help reduce the damage caused by the increased likelihood of flooding.

Climate-resilient agriculture, agricultural insurance, and agroforestry are just a few of many strategies for adapting to climate change that could potentially help smallholder farmers keep producing food for themselves and their communities, despite climate change. 

But all of them require funding, and the world is not doing enough. Only about 1.7 percent of all climate finance goes to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change. The U.S. and other high-income countries should increase funding for efforts that are so essential to ending hunger.

Jordan Teague Jacobs is co-director, Policy & Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post How can smallholder farmers adapt to climate change? appeared first on Bread for the World.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began to measure food security in 1996. Before that, anti-hunger advocates had only a rough proxy—data on poverty from the U.S. Census Bureau. In most years, hunger rates do track closely with poverty rates, but there are times when they do not. 

Access to data on food security has been an improvement since it includes information at the household level about people’s access to food each month.   

In 2022, USDA announced that it would begin to track nutrition security alongside food security. What is nutrition security, and how does it differ from food security? 

Food security itself is a formal term for what most people might call having enough money for food or not going hungry. By definition, all members of a food secure household, at all times, have enough food for an active, healthy life. This is not just any food—it is nutritionally adequate food that is safe to eat and has been obtained in a socially acceptable way.

 Nutrition security includes the elements of food security plus access to foods that prevent disease and, if needed, treat disease. Disease associated with poor dietary quality—including high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease—is the leading cause of premature death in the United States. Altogether, disease associated with poor diet consumes almost 20 percent of all healthcare spending.

The announcement that USDA is beginning to track nutrition security alongside food security has been welcomed by many healthcare professionals, especially those who treat the consequences of poor diets. Much of the damage to human health of a poor diet is caused by lack of access to foods that promote good health, often due to lack of resources. Diet-related diseases are more prevalent in low-income communities. There are fewer healthy food choices, and to stretch every food dollar as far as possible, families often resort to purchasing less healthy or unhealthy foods.

While USDA had previously paid some attention to nutrition security, the 2022 announcement signaled its intention to update the way it evaluates nutrition programs’ effectiveness. 

The largest of these programs is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP. 

In July, Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the SNAP Nutrition Security Act of 2023, which calls for:

• Measuring and reporting annually on nutrition security and diet quality, as USDA currently does for food security. 
• Adding reporting on food and nutrition security to annual state SNAP-Ed reports. 
• Collecting and reporting every four years on national and state SNAP sales data. Data will be collected in the aggregate and the privacy of SNAP shoppers and retailers will be protected.
• Adding improving nutrition security and diet quality to Congress’s declaration of policy, or congressional rationale, for SNAP.

The bill is not universally popular among anti-hunger advocates. The main concern is that it could open the door to limiting the food choices of SNAP participants. SNAP, unlike other federal nutrition programs, does not prohibit the purchase of ultra-processed foods or foods with no nutritional value. 

Some advocates, mindful of the need to protect the freedom of SNAP participants to make their own food purchase decisions just like everyone else, argue that tracking nutritional security could help make the case for restrictions. The bill does not contain proposed restrictions on purchases, nor does it state that restricting SNAP-approved foods is a goal. But uncertainty about policymakers’ intentions could be a valid concern. 

Yet everyone, especially SNAP participants, could potentially benefit from insights into nutrition security. For example, the additional knowledge could help improve the U.S. food system. The information may not come as welcome news to everyone, but diet-related disease is a significant problem leading people to premature death, and information is needed to understand and solve it. 

This article began by pointing out that the United States did not measure food security until 1996. Data on poverty was an imprecise proxy. There is no proxy at all for nutrition security, so collecting more information is an important step toward developing new strategies to protect our population’s health.  

Todd Post is senior domestic policy advisor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post A Step Forward on Nutrition Security appeared first on Bread for the World.

In this season of what may be called a poly-crisis of mounting challenges—from food insecurity, climate change, environmental injustice, racial and gender disparities, polarization within governance, divisions of peoples and groups, and questions about freedoms—the spirit of perseverance can be very challenged. 

Still, Mark 3:14 tells us to ^“press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” The gospel lesson about the widow helps us to understand what this means from a very practical perspective. Her story is a demonstration of powerful perseverance to make her own case for vindication from her adversary. 

At the same time, her story begs the question of what really made the judge give in to her plea. Was it only that “she bothered him” and that he was tired of her “continual coming,” or was it something more? The pretext to the parable tells us that, indeed, the parable is really about prayer. 

Recently, the Pan African Consultation at the 2023 Advocacy Summit prayerfully engaged this biblical reflection along with our related Latino/a convocation—and the entire gathering for the Summit. Together we convened Bread members and advocates to use their collective voice to engage members of Congress and advocate for policies that address hunger and give struggling families in the United States and around the world a chance at a healthy and prosperous life. 

The Pan African Consultation especially lifted the resilience and resolve of Pan African farmers, both nationally and globally. The Consultation created a space for prayer, recalling the narrative of lament and hope in Pan African communities and the lenses of equity, nutrition, and sustainability regarding the importance of the farm bill for Pan African communities. The Consultation included an advocacy visit with the first person of African descent to be the Minority Leader in the House of Representative, U.S. Congressman Hakim Jeffries.

The Consultation also joined with the Latino/a convocation for a conversation with Bread board members identified with the two groups. This open space encouraged a better understanding of how Bread is governed and mutual sharing of strategies for advocacy. They also shared their stories with each other and made their prayerful petitions with their congressional leaders with all Advocacy attendees the next day. 

I invite you to learn more about the Advocacy Summit and how you can support the farm bill. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post The Power of Perseverance with a Pan African Lens appeared first on Bread for the World.

Many provide affordable, fresh, and nutritious food to their local communities. Yet they often face challenges due to limited resources, improper infrastructure, lack of funding, gender biases, or other socioeconomic factors. Moreover, smallholder farmers are often disproportionately affected by hunger. About three quarters of the estimated 828 million people experiencing hunger around the world live in rural areas, according to the United Nations — and many of them are farmers. Climate change has also played a role, as the increase in severe weather events and less predictable patterns can negatively impact harvests.

Nevertheless, smallholder farmers are an invaluable segment of the global agricultural industry. In this article, we’ll explore how smallholder farmers are defined, where they live and work, and what they grow by answering the following questions:

• What is a smallholder farmer?
• Where are most smallholder farmers located?
• What are the challenges of smallholder farmers?
• How can we empower smallholder farmers around the world?

What is a smallholder farmer?

A smallholder farmer is someone who depends on their own labor and resources to produce food or other agricultural products. They typically live in rural areas and sell at least some of their products or surplus crops while using a portion for home consumption or in-kind payments. 

Smallholder farmers may be involved in one primary crop or many different crops throughout the year, depending on seasonal conditions and market opportunities. They rely on small plots of land for their livelihood, typically classified as agricultural operations of up to 24 acres (10 hectares) — most smallholder farmers cultivate less than 5 acres (2 hectares) of land. 

Definitions for what constitutes a smallholder can vary and not only be based on size but factors such as involvement of family in labor, harvesting techniques, and economic profitability. The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Smallholder Guidelines further details the distinctive characteristics of smallholders as farms that:

• produce limited volumes of food on small plots of land; 
• have fewer resources than commercial or large-scale farmers;
• may be part of an informal economy;
• often depend on family labor; and
• are vulnerable in food supply chains.

The Impact of Smallholder Farmers

Smallholder farmers are an invaluable asset to the global food economy. Despite their size, smallholder farmers produce more than a third (around 35 percent) of the world’s food and provide up to 80 percent of the food supply in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, according to the FAO. These growers play a key role in providing nutritious food to their local communities, maintaining ecosystems, and furthering sustainable agriculture.

Growing numerous staple crops such as maize (corn), wheat, rice, coffee beans, cassava, and sorghum, smallholders often aid in the development and progress of effective food systems in low-income countries. As the FAO reports, “Out of the 2.5 billion people in [low-income] countries living directly from the food and agriculture sector, 1.5 billion people live in smallholder households.”

Despite growing food, smallholders are often disproportionately impacted by hunger, so addressing food insecurity and poverty in rural areas is often interconnected with addressing disparities faced by smallholders. 

Smallholder Farmers’ Role in Sustainable Agriculture

Smallholder farmers play a significant role in environmental sustainability and conservation efforts by engaging in agroforestry, crop diversification, composting, and other environmentally-friendly practices. They help preserve local environments and agricultural land that may otherwise be lost due to industrialization and globalization.

Many smallholder farmers utilize composting waste materials from their own operations and rotate crops between fields every few years to keep soil healthy and fertile. This helps protect against erosion caused by heavy rains or windstorms that can destroy topsoil if left unprotected for too long. 

Smallholder farmers are also vital stewards of ecosystems. Seeking to maintain biodiversity, they often assist in preventing overgrazing while providing habitats for wildlife such as birds who eat insects harmful to crops.

Where are most smallholder farmers located?

Smallholder farmers are a significant part of the agricultural landscape in many parts of the world, but they tend to be more prevalent in certain regions — particularly in low-income countries where a significant number of people work and live off the land. 

Smallholder Farmers Around the World

Africa, Asia, and South America have high concentrations of smallholder farmers compared to other parts of the world. They grow and harvest crops that are abundant in their homeland and vital to local food systems. Maize (corn), for example, is the most important grain crop in Africa. Sorghum is another staple cereal grain grown widely across the continent. 

Other staple foods grown by some smallholders include millet and wheat, though they tend to be produced commercially because the high demand makes it difficult for small farms to compete.Similar produce includes bananas, mangoes, guavas, and other popular fruits along with beans, cassava (tapioca), sweet potatoes, and yams.

What are the challenges of smallholder farmers?

Smallholder farmers are facing significant challenges worldwide. They often lack sufficient funds, work with improper infrastructure, or are vulnerable to the whims of supply chains that can favor large-scale farmers. Climate change plays a role in making it difficult for smallholder farmers to sustain their agricultural operations, too: severe weather events and changes in weather patterns have damaged land and created unpredictable conditions for harvesting crops. 

Smallholder farmers may experience limitations based on their size and being in remote locations as well — all of which “hinder their ability to grow a prosperous business and provide food for their families.” 

Unlike larger farming businesses, few smallholders have access to training, information, farm inputs, and financial support to look after the soil and improve their yields. Some smallholders may operate as part of an informal economy and lack official documents to show rights to their land. Consequently, this can limit their choices of what, when, and how to grow crops. 

Farmers in low-income countries may struggle to maximize their harvests and turn profits. And over consecutive years, this impoverishes farmers, forcing them to sell their possessions or even their land, an unfortunate scenario that can deprive communities of a key source of food.

Other systemic factors that can hold smallholders back include gender inequality, low access to healthcare, unsafe water, and poor sanitation conditions. Globally, some common disparities among smallholder farmers are: 

• Lack of safe water for growing crops: Many smallholder farmers do not have access to enough clean water for their crops and livestock, which makes production difficult and risky.
• Lack of access to markets: Smallholder farmers often lack access to markets where they can sell their produce and earn income from it, making it hard for them to make ends meet without relying on other sources of income like wage labor or handmade goods.
• Insufficient finances: Most smallholders do not take out loans from banks because they don’t qualify due to a lack of collateral assets like land titles.
• Limited access to technology: Smallholder farmers often do not have access to modern farming technologies like irrigation systems and smart fertilizing methods.
• Lack of education: Many smallholder farmers have not had formal or extensive education that would help them improve agricultural production and become more competitive in markets.

The Impact of Climate Change

Scientists have warned that the world is on track to reach climates that are 1.5 degrees Celsius (~2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer as soon as 2027, and Africa is warming at an even faster rate.

Nearly all African countries are “expected to reach 2 degrees Celsius [~3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] warmer between 2025 and 2040, even though the continent accounts for less than 5 percent of the carbon emissions generated by human activities.”

What’s more, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reports that over half of sub-Saharan Africa’s employment and up to 30 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) relies on agriculture. “But by 2050, the areas currently providing 70 percent of the value of crop production will be victim to severe or extreme aridity and heat stress.”

And there are troubling trends in other parts of the world as well. 

A recent McKinsey analysis on climate-smart agriculture found that smallholder farmers make up one of the populations most at risk from climate change. 

The research shows that in three countries in particular — Mexico, India, and Ethiopia — “nearly 80 percent of all smallholder farmers could be affected by at least one climate hazard by 2050. Moreover, climate change will affect ‘land suitability for crop production,’” and by 2050, India could lose 450,000 square kilometers of land for rice crops.

Governments, leaders, people of faith, and activists across the world must come together to address climate change. The people of low-income nations are proactively leveraging their own agency and resources to establish infrastructure that can withstand the impacts of climate change in their homelands. 

Assistance from the U.S. government and international organizations can help by providing funding, training, and resources to further these efforts. The farm bill in particular lends major support to international food aid programs. Among the measures that should be strengthened are nutrition security efforts that support smallholder farmers and foster more equitable, sustainable food systems worldwide. 

Challenges for Women Smallholders

Women do much of the farming in lower-income countries, comprising an average of 43 percent of the agricultural labor force and up to nearly 50 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and East and Southeast Asia. Yet they are often limited by gender biases that deny them access to credit, legal title and rights to land, and the ability to secure tools for farming.

Nevertheless, women farmers are the “quiet drivers of change” toward hunger relief and sustainable food systems. 

As Bread for the World has highlighted, “… one of the most cost-effective ways to combat global malnutrition is to invest in improving the lives of women farmers.” With access to the same resources as men, they could increase harvests on their farms by 20 percent to 30 percent and in turn lift 100-150 million people out of hunger. 

How can we empower smallholder farmers around the world?

To empower smallholder farmers around the world, it is crucial that individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and communities advocate for leaders to prioritize programs and funding that address climate change. Overall, we must: mitigate the impacts of climate change; encourage sustainable agricultural practices; and increase access to funding and resources for smallholders.

Lawmakers should look toward making markets more accessible for smallholder farmers, while NGOs can help increase access to education and training programs. The promotion and support of sustainable agricultural techniques are also important so that not just smallholder farmers but all farmers can maintain and develop effective food systems.

How Empowering Smallholder Farmers Can Help Reduce Hunger

Currently, an estimated 828 million people are experiencing hunger around the world — 46 million more than the previous year, according to the World Health Organization. One of the most impactful ways to increase food security around the world is the empowerment of smallholder farmers, who produce about one-third of the world’s food supply.

In fact, when it comes to ending hunger, smallholder farmers are essential to efforts to reduce hunger and poverty around the world. During the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit, the UN issued a warning that the world will not succeed in meeting the Sustainable Development Goal to end global hunger by 2030 if smallholder farmers are not prioritized. Simply put, smallholder farmers are facing many challenges that could make achieving this unattainable.

With their dedication to providing nutritious and often affordable food for their local communities and families, smallholder farmers help reduce hunger. Providing better resources for these farmers can start with increasing funding opportunities.

For example, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) focuses on agriculture and food security in rural areas, making it the only multilateral development bank to do so. Bread for the World has advocated for “continued and increased U.S. funding for IFAD because it is an influential partner in financing agricultural and rural development. Since 1978, IFAD has funded projects worth more than $23 billion that have reached 518 million people.”

Other support should include technology, training, and educational programs that position smallholder farmers to develop sustainable, economically sound agricultural production.

Conclusion

Smallholder farmers are an important part of the global economy, and their contributions cannot be overlooked. With their dedication to growing nutritious, affordable food for their communities, smallholder farmers help feed people around the world while also keeping up sustainable agriculture practices. Yet not only do they face risks from climate change, poor infrastructure, financial disparities but they are also experiencing hunger at disproportionate rates.

There are many ways lawmakers and government leaders can increase support for smallholder farmers, such as providing more access to funding and training in new farming techniques and addressing the impacts of climate change. Governments should invest greater resources into rural areas where many smallholder farmers live so they have better access to technology, clean water, and public facilities — ensuring they can provide food for their families as well as their communities.

As individuals, we can play a role in empowering smallholders by advocating for the expansion and reauthorization of the farm bill. The legislation provides vital assistance for programs that support smallholder farmers and effective food systems around the world.

The post What Are the Challenges of Smallholder Farmers Around the World? appeared first on Bread for the World.

Ezekiel 47:1-2 and 11-12, was the scriptural basis for Dr. Brown’s message that healing waters flowing from our sanctuaries can also replenish our communities with safe water and nutritious food. He linked this vision to equitable contributions of independent Black farmers in partnership with Black churches.

This vision of healing for people of African descent and of a more equitable life for Black farmers was inherent to the Emancipation Proclamation, which was not delivered to some enslaved people of African descent until 1865—despite being issued in 1863. We honor that late message of freedom on June 19, the Juneteenth holiday. The Emancipation Proclamation legally liberated people of African descent from enslavement, including forced farm labor on lands settled and owned by white planters. But despite the merited celebration at the passage and implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation—with military protections and a short-lived Reconstruction period—formerly enslaved people of African descent saw the limitations of this law as early as 1868.

In 1868 a 14^th Amendment became necessary to further ensure the citizenship of people of African descent—a law that would support life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness under “the equal protection of the laws.” But this still was not enough. In 1869 the 15^th Amendment was passed and guaranteed men of African descent (though not women) the right to vote. 

Together, these Constitutional amendments were acts of reparatory justice that sought to move the United States away from the gross injustice of enslaving people of African descent. In so doing, these laws marked not just a moment of reparatory justice but the beginning of a reparatory journey by the U.S. government. Since then, the nation has made gradual steps towards reparatory justice, impelled by constant demands for this by people of African descent and their allies. But much more still needs to be done, given the significant racialized disparity of generational wealth, the income gap, and the low ownership of lands by Black farmers. 

Bread celebrates Juneteenth, but we also recognize the continued need for healing—not only in communities of African descent in the U.S. but within all of us because of these historic and present-day inequities. Bread believes that advocating for the farm bill is one of the ways we support the legacy and spirit of Juneteenth and the movement for reparatory food justice. You are invited to be a part of this. Please go here to learn more about advocating for the farm bill.

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Juneteenth: An Invitation to Reparatory Food Justice appeared first on Bread for the World.

The event, “Keeping the Faith: Bipartisan Commitment for a 2023 Farm Bill,” featured Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and John Boozman (R-AR), the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. 

In welcoming remarks, Bread president and CEO Rev. Eugene Cho proclaimed, “it is an honor to be among this group of people who all share a similar passion – ensuring America’s food and farm policies help everyone in our country thrive, especially people who are experiencing hunger.” 

Rev. Cho continued, “We can acknowledge the intense polarization of our times, and at the same time acknowledge that this event and every leader here are hopeful reminders that we can work together toward the common good.”   

More than 200 faith leaders, advocates, and community members attended, as did Senate Agriculture Committee member Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Boozman, and Senate Agriculture Committee member Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), gave remarks about their intent and hope for a bipartisan farm bill and shared their personal connections to the legislation.

Following the event, Ranking Member Boozman shared, “The faith community’s advocacy for a bipartisan approach to the farm bill is so important as we move forward in the process. As I noted in my remarks, the world needs givers. The room was full of givers that night and it was very inspirational to be surrounded by them. I count on their continued engagement as we all work together to get the farm bill across the finish line.” 

In addition to Sens. Stabenow, Boozman, and Braun, other speakers included U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black, who led the opening prayer; Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA); Bishop James B. Walker, a Bread board member and presiding bishop of the Seventh Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church; Rev. David Beckmann, Bread president emeritus and Circle of Protection co-chair; and, Min. Heather Taylor, managing director of Bread.  

Bread for the World is honored to have co-hosted the event with The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the National Association of Evangelicals, Catholic Charities USA, Latino Christian National Network, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Sojourners, and the Circle of Protection.

For more information about the farm bill and how you can help, visit Bread’s Offering of Letters webpage at bread.org/ol.  

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Christ Has Risen! Christ Has Risen Indeed!

One of my favorite Resurrection hymns is Christ the Lord Has Risen Today! Like Matthew 28:6, the melody and the words point not only to the glory of Jesus the Christ rising from the dead, but also to the realized promise of new life. It is because of this rising that verse four has special meaning: 

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!”

“Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!” suggests that we have a role to play in not only testifying to Jesus’ resurrection, but also in living out a calling to be instruments of God’s grace—for all to rise to new life. This includes the ministry and mission of advocacy for those affected by hunger—that they may have new and renewed life.

Hunger denies life and denies God‘s promise of life for all. Studies have shown that food insecurity results in a wide range of physical and mental health problems and can be lethal. 

Matthew 28:6 and the hymn tell us all are invited to rise to new life because Jesus has already risen for us! Therefore, we have power and grace to be living testimonies and agents of this new life. Bread for the World is committed to promoting and supporting policies and practices that promote this promise of new and renewed life. 

This new and renewed life invites us to redress the historic inequities that have resulted in diminished life—and even death. One of these inequities is evident in the ownership of farmland. During the twentieth century, Black farmers were stripped of land and experienced crippling levels of discrimination when seeking government and private assistance. Did you know that Black farmers in the United States account for less than 2 percent of the total number of the nation’s farmers, according to the latest Census of Agriculture? Farmers of color account for less than 5 percent. 

The loss of this farmland has contributed significantly to the racial wealth gap. Breaking this cycle of discrimination in farming is an important aspect to consider when advocating for the farm bill. There are provisions in this bill that promote equity, sustainability, and nutrition.

Bread’s Policy and Research Institute provides valuable details on how food is produced today and the value of the Farm Bill as an expression of God’s promise of life for all.

Go here to learn more about your role in advocating for new and renewed life by advocating for the Farm Bill. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post The Great Rising and the Promise of Resurrection and Equity appeared first on Bread for the World.

Sister Sara Tarango is particularly interested in Bread’s 2023 Offering of Letters on improving the farm bill. She is known affectionately around the motherhouse as Sister Soil because of her impassioned presentations on regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture may be a new term to many, but in essence, it is the simple, time-honored concept of soil preservation. Hence the nickname Sister Soil.

Sister Soil wants to make many more people aware that cropland soil in the United States is eroding 10 times faster than it is being replenished. Nutritious food depends on healthy soil that can supply seeds and, ultimately, the crops grown with sufficient quantities of all the essential nutrients. A carrot or an apple grown on a U.S. farm today is less nutritious than one produced just a few decades ago.

The U.S. soil health crisis is directly related to overreliance on chemical inputs in farming. Soil degradation is one serious problem caused by widespread use of artificial fertilizers and other inputs. Another is the emission of large quantities of nitrous oxide, one of the greenhouse gases that causes climate change.

Soil erosion is a global problem. Soil degradation is proceeding at such a fast rate that it calls into question whether the world will continue to be able to produce enough food for everyone.  

Part of Bread for the World’s collective campaign of farm bill advocacy is to encourage grassroots leaders such as Sister Sara to contribute to developing Bread’s farm bill policy platform.

David Gist, Bread’s organizer for California, met with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange in 2022, one of many preparatory farm bill listening sessions that Bread organizers held with grassroots leaders. According to Gist, “Sister Sara was by far the most interested and insightful participant, in part thanks to her training with Kiss the Ground.”

Kiss the Ground trains farmers in regenerative agricultural practices to apply in their fields, while activists are trained in advocating for policy change through legislation such as the farm bill. It has probably done more than any other U.S. organization to promote regenerative agriculture.

The training inspired Sister Sara to develop a tool kit for advocacy that she plans to share with other people of faith who are concerned about the environment. As she sees it, regenerative agriculture fits in well with Creation Care, an ecumenical framework embraced by many people of faith. We will have more to say about the Creation Care movement in an upcoming issue of Institute Insights.

In December 2022, Sister Sara came to Washington, D.C., for the launch of Bread’s farm bill policy platform.  The visit – her first to the nation’s Capital – included a meeting on Capitol Hill with her member of Congress, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA-46).

It was his first time meeting with Sister Sara. However, as a longtime friend of the Sisters of St. Joseph, he was not surprised that she used the time available to explain why she’s concerned about soil degradation and then articulated other farm bill priorities identified by Bread’s collaborative process.

Although they too seldom receive the recognition they deserve, grassroots leaders such as Sister Sara Tarango are true Bread heroes, prodding the organization to identify and take action to achieve the bolder, more complex policy changes that are necessary to end hunger for good.

These leaders remind everyone at Bread that our mission calls for systems change in addition to strengthening individual federal programs.

It is not surprising that people working to address hunger in their local communities would see hunger as a problem rooted in the food system itself. Bread’s 2023 Farm Bill advocacy is making a similar case.

Todd Post is senior domestic policy advisor with Bread for the World.

The post Sister Soil Cultivates Zeal for Regenerative Agriculture at Bread for the World appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World believes that every human being is created in the image of God, and thus, has the right to enough nutritious food for good health. We therefore advocate to elected officials to establish effective systems, structures, and policies that affirm equality and advance equity to alleviate hunger and poverty.

Among these structures and systems, a sustainable and equitable food system is essential to provide access to enough nutritious food. Such food systems include activities and resources necessary to bringing food from its source—farms, ranches, oceans—to people’s forks.

Because billions of people work in various parts of U.S. and global food systems, such as farming, processing food, and cooking, it is essential for these systems to function effectively to protect people and practice good stewardship of our planet.

The weaknesses of our current global food system are laid bare by the high and rising numbers of people living with hunger. Yet we know there is hope. Farmers are working to produce enough food under difficult conditions, parents are working to serve their children nutritious meals, and researchers are working to find new ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. Bread for the World supports the following principles essential to equitable and sustainable food systems:

Nutrition
Food systems should prioritize sufficient supplies of nutritious food for all. Nourishing people should be the primary function of a food system. Actions to support nutritious food for all include:

• Doing more to prevent malnutrition, a leading cause of death among children under 5, particularly those in the critical “1,000 days” nutrition window between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday.
• Strengthening incentives and support for farmers to grow healthy, nutrient-dense foods in greater quantities.
• Ensuring historically excluded groups have access to vital safety net nutrition programs.

Equity
The global community should move food systems toward equitable outcomes for all people. All societies have structures and systems that discriminate against people because of their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or other identity traits, and food systems are no different. Current food systems often produce unequal impacts for historically marginalized communities related to hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Equitable policies will:

• Create more opportunities for socially disadvantaged farmers in the United States by increasing access to resources such as credit and government extension services.
• Ensure equitable access to U.S. foreign assistance programs and resources for groups that have historically been excluded yet are critical to ensure food security and nutrition, such as women smallholder farmers, national
  and local civil society organizations, and research institutions in lower-income regions.
• Ensure fair wages, hours, and working conditions to enable workers in all sectors of the global food system to earn a decent living while their right to dignity is upheld.

Climate
Food systems must make rapid progress toward environmental sustainability by taking the necessary actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural activities already seen. Sustainable food systems meet people’s needs today without undermining the food security of future generations.
A food system strategy that is smart on climate will:

• Support research, development, and implementation of techniques to reduce emissions in the food system and to support communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience.
• Reduce food waste and food loss to reduce emissions. Among many ways of accomplishing this are creating better ways of collecting and distributing surplus food in the United States and improving access to storage
  facilities that prevent food spoilage in lower-income countries.

We urge our nation’s leaders to enact policies and make investments that embody these key principles to improve the U.S. and global food systems and end hunger and malnutrition.

The post Ending Hunger by Building Effective Food Systems appeared first on Bread for the World.

Earth Day, April 22, is quickly approaching. Read on for a look at some of the main activities, many virtual and all centered around this year’s theme, Restore Our Earth.

We have also recently published a feature on continuing advocacy on the Child Tax Credit expansion, the most significant opportunity to reduce U.S. child poverty in many years; a look at the daunting problems Venezuela faces, despite its status as an oil-rich, previously middle-income nation; and an update on efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the only way possible—through worldwide vaccination.

Ahead of Earth Day itself, on the evening of April 20, the Hip Hop Caucus and its partners will host the “We Shall Breathe” virtual summit. This digital event will “examine climate and environmental justice, connecting the climate crisis to issues of pollution, poverty, police brutality, and the pandemic, all within a racial justice framework.”

Organizers of this year’s Earth Day, the 51st annual, have identified five pillars that will contribute to realizing the goal of restoration of the Earth. They are the Great Global Cleanup, Food and the Environment, the Canopy Project, Climate Literacy, and the Great Global Challenge.

Of the five pillars, Bread for the World Institute is, of course, primarily focused on Food and the Environment, but we also work on other pillars, particularly Climate Literacy. Bread staff work to enable policymakers, anti-hunger advocates, climate advocates, and others who are interested to see why and how hunger is inextricably connected with climate change. In fact, as we describe in our 2017 Hunger Report, Fragile Environments, Resilient Communities, climate change is one of the main causes of global hunger. 

The first-ever Earth Day was held in 1970. Climate change was not on the radar among people in the United States. Nevertheless, the first annual Earth Day is credited with inspiring the modern environmental movement, and it focused on key environmental concerns that are even more pressing today than 51 years ago. The Great Global Cleanup is always much needed.

The Canopy Project produces and shares training events and educational materials on why and how communities may plan to plant and—equally important—provide life-sustaining care for new trees. It joins a host of impressive grassroots reforestation initiatives. Among the best-known is Kenya’s Greenbelt Movement.

The Great Global Challenge pillar is centered around science, including a citizen science initiative. People all over the country are invited to participate in research on important environmental and climate concerns. Two current topics are air quality and plastics. Another key focus is bees, as we continue to hear alarming news about the collapse of bee colonies—and ultimately, of course, people’s ability to grow food since bees are essential pollinators.

Because I live in Maryland, I have been encouraged to download and use an app to help track cicadas. Maryland will be the epicenter when, in mid-May, the billions of cicadas of Brood X, all of which have lived underground for the past 17 years, emerge to seek mates. Researchers are gathering reams of cicada data from “citizen scientists” and others to learn more about how climate change is affecting insect species.

Returning now from climate science to Bread’s central concerns, I’d like to mention a few other hunger and food systems initiatives of the network that organizes Earth Day. A 2020 report, Climate Change and the American Diet, offers insights into U.S. public attitudes toward eating more climate-friendly, plant-based foods. Written through a partnership between Earth Day Network and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, the report finds that people are fairly receptive to the concept but don’t have much information.

About half (51 percent) of those surveyed said they would eat more plant-based foods if they had more information about the environmental impacts of their food choices. But nearly two-thirds reported that they had never been asked to eat more plant-based foods, and more than half said they rarely or never hear about the topic in the media.

Just a sampling of other Earth Day Network initiatives: The Foodprints project measures the various environmental impacts of the “farm to fork” system in the United States. The 2012 Urban Environment Report evaluated 72 U.S. cities on more than 200 environmental indicators, centered around residents who “may have greater sensitivity or susceptibility to environmental, health, and social problems.” Farmers for Earth is a free information-sharing platform for small and medium-sized farmers in the United States. Launched on Earth Day 2019, it offers opportunities for farmers to connect with peers who are already engaged in sustainable agriculture as well as with subject experts.

Bread for the World Institute wishes everyone a Happy Earth Day and, since restoring the Earth is not a one-day project, a fulfilling Earth Year as well.

Michele Learner is managing editor with Bread for the World Institute.

The post Earth Day is next week appeared first on Bread for the World.

This is the fourth in a five-part series on transforming assistance to fragile contexts to end hunger.

Although Latin America has less than 10 percent of the global population, almost half of all COVID-19- related deaths have taken place there, and many of the low-income countries hit hardest in the first year of the pandemic are in Latin America.

Latin America soon emerged as an epicenter of the global pandemic despite the fact that COVID-19 cases did not appear in the region until much later than they were apparent in Europe and the United States.

A major reason for this is that the majority of Latin American countries faced myriad political and governance challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Corruption in government and low levels of both mandatory taxation levels and actual tax collection contributed to many problems that fueled the pandemic, particularly inadequate public health systems, very high levels of economic inequality, and poorly resourced public education systems.

In recent years, Venezuela has faced what some consider “the Americas’ greatest single humanitarian crisis.” The nation’s economy and political structure collapsed even though it possesses the world’s largest known petroleum reserves. More than 5 million people have now fled the country and an estimated 91 percent of those who remain live in poverty. Nearly a third of all Venezuelans—more than 9 million people— are food insecure or malnourished. These figures are expected to rise as the coronavirus continues to spread.

The dire pre-pandemic circumstances have exacerbated the death and suffering caused by COVID-19. 80 percent of Venezuela’s hospitals were understaffed and 60 percent were not equipped with basic necessities such as running water and reliable electricity.

For several years now, public protests have swept the country as people denounced the government’s poor policies and other shortcomings that led to an economic collapse and food shortages. In 2018, a disputed presidential election worsened the political situation. The Organization of American States, the European Union, and other international organizations declared that the result was not valid. 

According to a blog post from the U.S. Institute of Peace, the government has used the COVID-19 pandemic to oppress its critics; for example, quarantines that are necessary for public health are being used to “reestablish political and social control,” and the government is charged with concealing the true numbers of COVID-19 victims.

According to the International Crisis Group, Venezuela is now on the brink of a famine. Lines at public food distribution sites stretch for miles, clean water is scarce and medicine even scarcer. The country’s currency has been devalued so many times that it is worth almost to nothing, signaling surging rates of inflation. As early as the end of April 2020, inflation on food items had reached 251 percent. The only “option” for those who cannot find food in stores is to pay up to 10 times more on the black market, an impossibility for most.

In a further threat to food security, fuel shortages are preventing farmers from operating their equipment to plant crops. More than half of the agricultural land that produced crops in 2019 was projected to lie fallow in 2020. Some agricultural sectors are faring even worse—the dairy industry is working at just 12 percent of capacity and one in six sugar mills is currently operational.

Further problems in accessing essential supplies have been created by U.S. sanctions seeking to disrupt trade between Venezuela and Iran. U.S. sanctions on oil tankers traveling from Iran to Venezuela have caused the price of oil to increase by as much as 30 percent—this at a time when the pandemic caused global oil prices to fall to historic lows, and in a country rich in oil reserves.

The Venezuelan government has deployed the army to control rationing at gas stations across the country. Farmers wait hours in line for their insufficient rations of fuel, and those who can afford to buy more at exorbitant black market prices do this as well. The scarcity of fuel has repercussions further down the food supply chain as well—for example, produce often cannot be transported to distribution centers for lack of fuel.

Stay tuned to Institute Insights next month to wrap up this series on fragility with ways to move forward.

Jordan Teague is interim co-director, policy analysis and coalition building, and Rahma Sohail was the 2020 Crook fellow with Bread for the World Institute.

The post Fragility and hunger in Venezuela appeared first on Bread for the World.

Pan para el Mundo reconoce que el hambre está relacionada con la inmigración en ambos lados de la frontera. Hacemos un llamado al Congreso para que adopte un enfoque integral, que dé la bienvenida a los inmigrantes y aborde las causas de raíz de la inmigración indocumentada.

Continuaremos presionando al Congreso para que colaboren de manera bipartidista y aprueben legislación que proteja la dignidad y los derechos que Dios le ha dado a todo ser humano.

Aunque Estados Unidos gasta anualmente más de $11 mil millones de dólares en la protección de la frontera, todos los años llegan miles de inmigrantes indocumentados.2 Este nivel de gastos en protección fronteriza, incluyendo el personal, ha tenido un impacto mínimo en reducir la inmigración de personas indocumentadas y se ha pagado un precio muy alto en términos económicos y humanos. Por ejemplo, la información del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional revela que la cantidad de inmigrantes que han muerto cruzando la frontera, prácticamente se ha duplicado durante más de una década.

Los fondos para la patrulla fronteriza son casi 17 veces más que la ayuda aportada para Centroamérica

The post Política fronteriza: abordando las causas fundamentales del hambre y la pobreza appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World recognizes immigration to be a hunger issue on both sides of the border. We call on Congress to take a comprehensive approach, one that welcomes the migrant and addresses the underlying causes of undocumented immigration. Not only would this be the moral thing to do but it also makes fiscal sense.

Even though the United States spends more than $11 billion on border enforcement annually, thousands of new undocumented immigrants arrive every year.

This level of spending on border enforcement, including personnel, has had minimal impact on curtailing undocumented immigration and has come at a high economic and human cost. Data from the Department of Homeland Security, for instance, shows that known migrant deaths have nearly doubled over a decade.

We urge Congress to embrace smarter immigration and border enforcement policy. This should include funding for programs that address push factors of migration from Central America; a reasonable pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants; and effective oversight and accountability of border enforcement practices and personnel, in any border enforcement funding bill.

Border patrol funding is nearly 17 times more than aid support for Central America

The post Border Policy: Addressing the Root Causes of Hunger and Immigration appeared first on Bread for the World.

This wide scope makes the Farm Bill vital not only to farmers, but to other residents of rural areas, people anywhere in the United States who do not have enough money for food, and countries where many people struggle with hunger and malnutrition. 

The Farm Bill can help put the United States on track to end food insecurity and hunger in our country and save millions of lives overseas. To do so, it must be designed with strong and resilient food systems and good nutrition as its top priorities.

The post How the U.S. Farm Bill Can Help End Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

The causes and consequences of fragility do not have national borders, and can even have global dimensions. IDA’s increased focus on fragility will allow the global community to both respond to fragility, conflict, and violence, and to mitigate these risks.

IDA also takes an integrated approach to development in the countries in which it invests. For example, in recent years, 38 percent of IDA’s commitments were focused on developing the private sector to facilitate broad, inclusive growth in countries and create resilient economies.

The post International Development Association (IDA) at the World Bank appeared first on Bread for the World.

Download the fact sheet using the link below:

The post Global Food Security Act/Feed the Future (bill analysis) appeared first on Bread for the World.

“While Bread for the World appreciates that appropriators provided adequate levels of funding for both domestic and international food aid programs, we do have some concerns,” said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “The bill restricts flexibility in providing food aid assistance, which will undoubtedly cost taxpayers money while putting those we are supposed to be helping at greater risk. We should be increasing the flexibility of food aid, not restricting it.”                                                                                  

Bread believes the committee’s allocations of $1.466 billion for the Food for Peace program, $6.35 billion for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and $21 million for Summer EBT Demonstration Projects are adequate to meet the programs’ needs.

However, Bread is concerned about the lack of flexibility given to USAID as part of funding from Food for Peace. Bread is also concerned about the committee’s refusal to fund the Local and Regional Purchase program, which was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. Also of concern is that language in the bill contains a number of factual inaccuracies about the benefits of food aid reform.

“Numerous studies have found that flexibility in procuring food aid, including purchasing food locally and regionally, significantly reduces costs, increases the number of people reached, and speeds up delivery,” Beckmann said. “Statements to the contrary in the legislation are counterproductive to our country’s interests and only serve to negate the undeniable benefits of food aid reform.”

The post Bread for the World Statement on House Agriculture Appropriations Bill appeared first on Bread for the World.

Since then, the Zambian and U.S. governments, health institutions, and other organizations have worked together to gain some control over the disease.

However, HIV cases are still high in Zambia — 12.4 percent of adults (over age 15) were HIV-positive in 2014, according to the United Nations AIDS program. And in November 2015, UNICEF reported that AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African teenagers, which means that many teens dying of AIDS were most likely HIV positive as younger children. Zambia has its share.

Making progress on malnutrition and health is key to ending hunger.

Connecting Nutrition and Health

The connections between nutrition and health are becoming more understood in both developed countries like the U.S. and developing nations like Zambia. At St. Francis, a church-supported mission hospital in eastern Zambia, nutrition and treatment for HIV already go hand-in-hand.

By 7:30 every morning, one wing of the hospital is full of adults and children. They sit on ledges in the outdoor corridors, which serve as waiting areas for patients. A hospital staff person leads an informal workshop on eating well at home for the group that arrives first in the morning. In this way, the hospital provides extra nutrition education to patients with HIV and their caregivers while they are waiting to be seen by the staff.

Among those lined up one morning are Colins Mwale, a 6-year-old boy, and his mother, Felistas Miti Mwale. Colins is HIV-positive and has come to St. Francis’ out-patient clinic for a regular check-up and monthly supply of antiretroviral drugs. 

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Mothers and Children Surviving and Thriving

Colins and the other patients — the hospital sees as many as 150 daily — will have a series of visits to offices along the corridor where their medical history and current health status will be checked. Staff also speak to patients — Colins’ mother in this case — about what they eat at home during these check-ups. 

In one office, after asking about Colins’ diet, the nurse asks his mother what time he takes his medication every day. The nurse checks Colins’ height and weight and then asks Felistas about Colins’ mental development. “How is his speech? Does he play with his friends?” The nurse notes that Colins is underweight for his height. She advises his mother to give him foods high in protein, like peanuts, which are readily available to many rural Zambians, as a snack. 

For HIV-positive patients like Colins, the hospital is receiving assistance from the Thrive program of PATH, a U.S.-based nonprofit that specializes in health in developing countries. Thrive is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a major way our federal government carries out its response to hunger and poverty overseas. 

The last stop for Colins and his mother on their visit is the pharmacy at the end of the corridor. The HIV drugs are supplied by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, started in 2008, and another way the U.S. government provides assistance overseas. Some patients also receive high-protein dietary supplements, supplied by USAID, if they are determined to be malnourished during their visits. 

With the medicine and food Colins and his mother receive, the nurse believes he can have a good quality of life and live to be 45 or 50 years old. While no one can see that far into the future, he is being given a chance at surviving and thriving today.

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831,500 HIV-positive pregnant women received antiretroviral medications in 2015, resulting in 267,000 babies born HIV-free. Source: PEPFAR World Aids Day update

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Thousands of fallen apples dotted the ground at Marker-Miller Orchard in Winchester, Va. The bounty of colorful fruit had been lying in the grass for days, still shiny and ripe, but facing an uncertain future as the growing season in Virginia drew to a close.

About an hour after sunrise, more than 200 volunteers one late October day began trekking between the rows of trees, eager to fill plastic buckets with the glut of red and green Stayman apples.

The 355-acre orchard invites paying customers to pick their own fruit, but this group was recruited for a special task. They had come to harvest food for the hungry as part of a biblical mandate known as gleaning.

“It’s working, but it’s not even hard work. You get to do it with your friends, and it’s for a good cause,” said 15-year-old Rachel Hayes, as she crouched under an apple tree filling a red bucket.

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A growing mission since 1979

Founded by two ministers and their families in 1979, the Society of St. Andrew opened its first office inside a sheep shed in Big Island, Va. Today, the organization is one of the top gleaning organizations in the country, with offices in 15 states and more than 30,000 annual volunteers nationwide.

Harvesting everything from sweet corn to potatoes to peaches, St. Andrew, so far in 2015, has donated more than 21 million pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to waste in fields.

“The mission they had was just save the food,” Heishman said. “When you see those truckloads of apples that would have rotted in a few days, and it’s going on trucks to D.C. to feed the homeless, it overwhelms you emotionally.”

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Not a matter of quantity but distribution

A staggering 6 billion pounds of fresh produce goes unharvested or unsold each year in the United States, according to estimates by the nonprofit Feeding America.

A multitude of factors are to blame: An abundance of sunshine may cause a crop to ripen too quickly, market prices could be too low for farmers to turn a profit, or field workers might be in short supply.

In the case of Marker-Miller Orchard, buyers are reluctant to purchase apples once they’ve fallen to the ground.  

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A bountiful harvest

High school students, church groups, and families worked for two hours in the orchard, filling pickup trucks with bags of gleaned apples headed for the nation’s capital. Elderly volunteers brushed dirt from fallen Staymans, while young boys triumphantly knocked apples out of trees using sticks.

For volunteers like Steve Cunningham, gleaning with the Society of St. Andrew is a tradition dating back 15 years or more. “You can see people who actually need food getting it, and that’s the neat thing,” said Cunningham, who helps distribute salvaged food to low-income residents in Winchester. Seeing immediate results has motivated him to volunteer at more than 100 gleaning events over the years.

“I think gleaning is one of the greatest things that God has instituted for his people to be fed,” said 74-year-old Leotha Woodson, founder of the charity Noah’s Ark. “There is nothing that I have ever done that is more rewarding than giving to someone that’s homeless and seeing a smile on their face.”

Every Saturday, Woodson offers a truckload of donated food to hungry residents living in northeast Washington, D.C., including most of the apples gleaned during the late fall event – a harvest totaling 18,000 pounds, or roughly 54,000 apples. The remaining fruit went to local food pantries and nonprofits in nearby Virginia cities.

Despite the success of gleaning organizations, 7 percent of planted fields in the United States still go unharvested, and only 10 percent of surplus food is recovered, according to a 2012 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“People don’t have time to put much thought into these things,” Heishman said. “We need to get the word out and get people educated.”

She says gleaning hasn’t ended hunger in America, but the Society of St. Andrew is showing that there’s enough food for everybody.

Lacey Johnson is a freelance writer and photographer in Washington, D.C. 

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“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.”
—Deuteronomy 24:19

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The post Biblical Harvest appeared first on Bread for the World.

[Note: this article appears in Bread’s 2015 November-December newsletter]

Across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the 2014-2015 Ebola crisis affected hundreds of thousands of families. Husbands lost wives, children lost parents, and communities lost entire families to the deadly disease. While Ebola brought an unprecedented health epidemic, it also gave rise to a less visible crisis — a food crisis.

“We were stigmatized as ‘the Ebola people,’” said Respect*, a 28-year-old living in Montserrado County, Liberia. “I was unable to sell anything I grew in the market.”

Respect described how Ebola hit her community during the early summer of 2014, and how it was one of the first to be affected by what would soon take thousands of lives throughout the region. In Respect’s village, after a pregnant woman died from what was thought to be complications from an abortion, and after her family performed a traditional burial ceremony, it was discovered that she had in fact died from Ebola. The virus spread rapidly through Respect’s community, taking 18 lives.

Over the course of the Ebola crisis, Respect’s village was quarantined more than 10 times. Moreover, Respect, along with the rest of her community, was stigmatized and unable to sell anything in the market. As time went on, borders closed, food prices rose, markets were further disrupted, and food became less accessible to the most vulnerable households. Some families were forced to eat seeds normally used for planting or sell their tools to buy food.

Getting relief

Thanks to a USAID Office of Food for Peace project implemented by Mercy Corps, thousands of Ebola-affected communities received much-needed assistance. Families received cash transfers to purchase food, and agricultural input vouchers to replace seeds and tools to restart planting.

Respect used the cash to buy basic food items and the vouchers to plant peppers in her home garden. Grateful for USAID’s assistance, Respect said she is excited to start her own business and sell her peppers to provide for herself and her household.

The one-year, $9 million project, which began in January 2015, aims to help more than 150,000 people in Liberia recover from the economic impacts of the Ebola outbreak. Across the region, USAID and its partners are boosting household purchasing power to help vulnerable families buy food and other essential items they need to get back on their feet.

After months of uncertainty and despair due to Ebola, families are restarting their livelihoods, children are back in school, and communities are rebuilding to be stronger than before.

*Last name withheld to protect privacy. This article first appeared on the USAID website.

Photo: Respect shows off her newly grown peppers planted with seeds provided through USAID. Mette Karlsen/USAID.

The post Quarantined Villagers Lose Access to Food During Epidemic appeared first on Bread for the World.

On a recent summer day, Lucy Masaka, a community health worker with the Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program in Tanzania, walked among the houses in the village where she serves. The name of the program means “good start” in Swahili.

As she made her rounds and visited clients, she saw small home gardens, rabbit hutches, and sack gardens. Sack gardens prove especially helpful in this drought-prone community, as vegetables planted in a sack grow especially well. Lucy leads a weekly peer-support group in this village and shows participants’ vegetable-demonstration plots, as well as how to raise animals for villagers to add protein to their diets. She also counsels women on hygiene and discusses ways to provide better nutrition to their children.

Will you support workers like Lucy by telling your members of Congress to cosponsor the Global Food Security Act of 2015?

Because of workers like Lucy and programs like Feed the Future, nearly 9 million children under 5 were reached with nutrition programs in Africa in 2014 alone. U.S. government programs like Feed the Future are building more food-secure and better-nourished communities — one village, one health worker, one small home garden at a time.

And now, because of Bread for the World members like you, we are getting closer to ensuring that Feed the Future is made a permanent program. The Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567/S. 1252) is pending in Congress. In July, we asked you to contact your members of Congress to cosponsor this legislation, and since then, over 15 new House members have added their support, bringing the number of supporters to nearly 75. But, in order for the bill to be brought to the House floor, we need to reach at least 100.

ACT NOW: Call (800/826-3688) or email your members of Congress today. Urge Congress to cosponsor the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567/S. 1252)!

When you act, you are going with Lucy from house to house in her village. You are supporting her vital work and the important role she is playing in ending hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty in her village in Tanzania and around the world.

Beth Ann Saracco is a senior international policy analyst at Bread for the World.

Photo: Vegetables at a market in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Racine Tucker-Hamilton for Bread for the World

The post From home gardens to rabbit hutches in Tanzania appeared first on Bread for the World.

Each short essay answer key questions from why development assistance is so important and what impact it has to whether the U.S. can afford it and where we should concentrate our efforts.

The essays clear up common misconceptions about development assistance and tell stories about people who are improving their lives with the help of U.S. development assistance.

Development Works is for Bread members and activists, Hunger Justice Leaders, adult Sunday school teachers, and others who need information about our international advocacy work.

This series helps people get a clearer picture of what is happening today in the struggle against global hunger and extreme poverty.

The post Development Works: Short Essays Explaining Myths and Realities about Development Assistance appeared first on Bread for the World.

Thanks to your calls and emails, there is strong, bipartisan support for the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567) in Congress.

This act authorizes — makes permanent — the Feed the Future program. Since 2008, Feed the Future has helped over 12.5 million children gain access to nutritious foods, while also assisting nearly seven million farmers and food producers in developing nations with newer, more updated agricultural methods. In making programs that are truly life-saving permanent, the world is one step closer to eradicating extreme poverty, creating sustainable agricultural-led growth in developing nations, and improving nutrition for women and children.

Your calls have generated over 50 cosponsors of the Global Food Security Act. But we need more in order for this bill to reach the House floor. We need 100 cosponsors before the House adjourns for its August recess.

Congress has only a few days of work left before its summer break. This makes passage of the Global Food Security Act even more critical. ACT NOW: Call (800/826-3688) or email your representative today. Urge them to cosponsor the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567)!

One out of nine people — 795 million in all — grapple with hunger daily. Let Congress know that passage of the Global Food Security Act is vital in the long-term fight to end hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty.

Eric Mitchell is the director of government relations at Bread for the World.

Photo: In Ghana, Feed the Future, the U.S. global hunger and food security initiative, has provided agricultural development assistance to this woman and other members of a women’s rice processing group. Louis Stippel/USAID

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The post-2015 development agenda provides a tremendous opportunity for a renewed approach to country-led development. Such an approach should ask and answer fundamental questions to countryled development: What is lacking? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we ensure that efforts have an impact on communities?

Such efforts would be strengthened by a results-driven, systemic strategy whose goal would be to catalyze authentic local determination of development priorities, resources, and methods of implementation. A comprehensive understanding of the process of LCD will help identify which strategies would be most effective. The first step could be to develop a policy to break down barriers to change, such as programs that are isolated (“siloed”) and competing interests.

Development effectiveness should be measured by how well the results help achieve development goals. The policy should also examine to what extent development partners such as the United States  prioritize local system strengthening.

Greater emphasis should be placed on strong indicators to measure progress, support evidence-based policymaking and promote mutual transparency and accountability.

The post Strengthening Local Capacity: The Weak Link in Sustainable Development appeared first on Bread for the World.

“It will be impossible to end hunger and extreme poverty without addressing the causes and impacts of climate change,” said Asma Lateef, director of Bread for the World Institute. “Climate change has already had a devastating effect on people’s lives, and the situation will only get worse. We need a global solution now.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, changing climate patterns are projected to dramatically undermine food security. The poorest people will continue to suffer the most, especially those living in developing countries or who are subsistence farmers. They will need help in adapting to conditions that were difficult before climate change, and are now becoming much worse.

Later this month, Pope Francis will deliver his first major papal encyclical. It will address climate change. The final draft of the encyclical specifically discusses the effects of climate change on the world’s poorest people and the need for the Roman Catholic Church and the leaders of other religions to come together and help them “prepare for the challenges of unavoidable climate and eco-system changes.”

Women are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but they also possess valuable knowledge. Women grow more than half of all the food in developing countries, and up to 80 percent in parts of Africa—mostly for their family’s consumption. Extra efforts must be made to provide women with resources to adapt to climate change, as they are often overlooked by male agricultural extension agents.

Bread for the World has joined with the World Bank and leaders of 30 faith groups and organizations in calling for an end to hunger and extreme poverty by 2030. Research conducted by Bread for the World shows that ending hunger and extreme poverty is possible in 15 years. However, climate change may quickly undo any progress that is made.

“There is still time to prevent worst-case scenarios, but it will require the global community coming together to confront and mitigate the impacts of climate change,” added Lateef. “We urge our leaders to equip those who are most affected to adapt to this global crisis and implement strong measures that focus on the root causes of climate change.”

The release of Bread for the World’s analysis coincides with World Environment Day, which takes place on June 5.

The post Climate Change Will Increase World Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

This legislation aims to strengthen U.S.-Africa trade opportunities. While the existing authorization will expire on Sept. 30, 2015, the Senate bill extends that authorization for another 10 years, until 2025. 

“Reauthorization of AGOA could encourage job creation through trade for AGOA-eligible countries as well as the United States,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World. “It is essential that our trade policies and agreements contribute to the efforts to reduce hunger and poverty.” 

AGOA is the most important legislation that defines trade relationships between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. Since it went into effect in 2000, exports under AGOA increased more than 500 percent, from $8.15 billion in 2001 to $53.8 billion in 2011. However, 95 percent of the total goods traded under AGOA was in the form of oil, gas, and minerals over that decade.  AGOA reauthorization should focus on non-energy imports and include strengthening the capacity of smallholder farmers and businesses to create jobs and boost incomes.

An estimated 80 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Female farmers often have fewer options in their livelihoods, including access to markets. The Senate version of AGOA includes a bipartisan amendment that will strengthen the trade capacity of smallholder women farmers. This language was introduced by U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), leading members of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

“Through this language, AGOA will have a direct impact on Africa’s women farmers, as well as improving overall food security,” Mitchell said.

Bread for the World, its partners, and its members have consistently advocated for AGOA since 1998. 

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“We are hopeful that the bill will generate strong bipartisan support, as did its counterpart in the House, by building off of the effective Feed the Future initiative,” said Eric Mitchell director of government relations at Bread for the World. “This piece of legislation, if passed, will have significant impacts on the lives of the more than 805 million chronically undernourished people in our world, including in regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where one in four people are affected by food shortages.”

S.1252 would authorize and improve Feed the Future, the critical U.S. government program for global food and nutrition security. In 2014, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that world hunger had dropped by over 100 million in the previous decade. This was due in part to programs like Feed the Future helping millions of small farmers in developing countries increase the amount of food they grew.

Up to 50 percent of the agricultural labor force is women in many developing countries, yet they tend to produce less food than men because they are less likely to own land, and women face higher barriers to hiring labor, accessing credit, and utilizing training and extension services. Programs like Feed the Future help to narrow this gap.

“This legislation’s efforts to address maternal and child nutrition will help the U.S. achieve its goal to end preventable child deaths, almost half of which are caused by malnutrition,” said Mitchell. “It would also further bolster U.S. leadership by leveraging a whole-of-government approach to tackling global hunger, poverty, and malnutrition.”

Efforts are currently underway to garner additional cosponsors of the Senate legislation. The House counterpart of the Global Food Security Act, H.R. 1567, unanimously passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month and awaits further consideration by the full House of Representatives.

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The report also shows that women’s willingness to share men’s breadwinning responsibilities has not been matched by men’s willingness to share unpaid household work or caregiving responsibilities. Though domestic work is a public good in the same way that education, clean water, clean air, and the food supply are, it is not recognized as such. Women constitute half the global population.

In many countries, women and girls are more likely to suffer from hunger and malnutrition than men and boys. Poverty and lack of education contribute to this disparity. However, giving women greater control of their income and assets would increase their bargaining power in the household and the market economy. Research has shown that this benefits their families and leads to widespread improvements in a country.

The post When Women Flourish … We Can End Hunger | The 2015 Hunger Report appeared first on Bread for the World.

“This bill is a mixed bag,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “While there are some positive aspects, such as food-aid reform provisions, we are disappointed with the $8.6 billion cut to SNAP.  Any cut to SNAP is harmful to America’s struggling families, especially at this time when hunger in the U.S.A. is at an all-time high.”

The compromise bill, made public last night, is expected to be voted on by the House Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Bread members have been critical in advocating for much-needed food-aid reforms, as well as preventing deeper cuts to SNAP and other harmful policy changes affecting America’s struggling families. The compromise bill includes strong efforts to ensure that international food-assistance programs are more efficient and reach as many children and families as possible. This includes $80 million authorized for local and regional food procurement, increased cash flexibility for development programs, and efforts to improve the nutritional quality of U.S. food assistance.

Though less than the $40 billion cuts to SNAP proposed in 2013, the $8.6 billion cut included in the bill will have drastic implications for hundreds of thousands of SNAP households. While the bill will not kick current beneficiaries off the program, it will cut benefits for approximately 850,000 households.  

“Congress must not forget that many American families are still struggling to put food on the table—especially at a time when unemployment remains high and programs that support hungry and poor people are at risk of greater cuts,” Beckmann added. “Any cut to SNAP is harmful.”

Excluded in the compromise bill are harsh work requirements that would have kicked parents with young children off SNAP, as well as drug-testing requirements. It also excludes the lifetime SNAP benefit ban on ex-offenders, which would have had severe consequences on those most marginalized. Bread for the World strongly opposed these policy changes. Finally, the bill does not cut the Food for Peace Program—a major win for Bread membership.

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Achieving global nutrition targets will demand that nutrition objectives and measures be more purposefully and consistently applied across all relevant U.S. government funded projects. Operational and technical guidance, as well as tools for integrating nutrition, exist that can be harmonized, adapted and applied. Internal nutrition technical capacity across government departments and agencies will need to be strengthened, at headquarters and in the field. Results from improved monitoring and evaluation will help show Congress that funding nutrition-related programs is a smart investment of appropriated funds.

An evidence base of improved outcomes will help sustain political momentum, and will enable the United States to continue being a leader in improving global nutrition through its development assistance efforts.

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The United States has made significant investments in Tanzania’s National Nutrition Strategy through Feed the Future and other programs. Developing nutrition strategies for USAID and for the whole of U.S. government presents an opportunity to complement and reinforce existing efforts to improve nutrition outcomes and to help build the evidence base for actions, as called for in the Lancet series on maternal and child nutrition.

This paper looks at efforts to scale up nutrition in Tanzania, identifying successes and challenges in program implementation and coordination that deserve consideration as projects are planned in other Feed the Future countries and elsewhere.

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In July 2009, G-8 leaders, gathered in L’Aquila, Italy, responded to the global food price crisis. The U.S. proposal to invest significantly more effort and resources in agriculture won support from other donor countries, who committed to providing $22 billion in financing for agriculture and food security over three years. This became known as the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI).

The United States is on track to fulfill its pledges of $3.5 billion, but according to 2011 estimates most donors were falling short. Feed the Future is the United States’ primary contribution to AFSI.

As G-8 president in 2012, the United States has an important opportunity to build on the progress made in the last three years to increase investments in smallholder agriculture and integrate nutrition into agriculture and food security efforts. Continued food price volatility and future challenges to food security, including population growth and climate change, require sustained investments.

At the Camp David G-8 Summit, leaders should build on this foundation and tackle the unfinished agenda, prioritizing nutrition, community resilience, capacity building, women’s empowerment, and agricultural research.

The post From L’Aquila to Camp David: Sustaining the Momentum on Global Food and Nutrition Security appeared first on Bread for the World.

In 2008, the Accra Agenda for Action called for greater focus on country ownership, accountability and transparency, and inclusive partnerships. Globally, progress has been made but more needs to be done. In general, the governments of developing countries have gone further than donors in implementing their commitments, though efforts and progress vary. At the country level, aid effectiveness efforts have had wider impact on institutions and, in turn, on development results.

Since 2005, the Paris principles have been adapted by a growing number of stakeholders, including civil society and parliaments, to specific needs and situations. However, efforts to meet the needs of the poorest people must be stepped up. Aid is only one element of the development process; the Paris principles are also applicable to other development efforts, such as South-South cooperation. The Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Busan, Korea, Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, 2011), should forge deeper political commitment and identify concrete follow-through actions. The post-Busan agenda should ensure that aid supports development priorities, especially the Millennium Development Goals.

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In spite of the role they play in U.S. agriculture, unauthorized immigrant farm workers labor under increasingly hostile conditions. The Agricultural Job Opportunity, B enefits and Security bill (AgJOBS)  as developed by farmers and farmworker advocates to regularize the status of workers in the agriculture sector. Public concern about unauthorized immigration has held up prospects of enacting the bill into law. Farm workers should be legalized so they can work without fear of deportation and so that farmers have access to workers they need. Immigrant agricultural workers can also support human capital renewal on farms struggling to recruit the next generation of farm operators. Rural communities in Mexico — where immigrant farm workers originate — should be integrated into a U.S. agricultural guest worker program that benefits U.S. and Mexican farmers.

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The national nutrition programs should do more to ensure that people in poverty have access to the foods they need for good health and to succeed in school and on the job. Farm policies should encourage production and distribution of healthy foods and help farmers manage risk more efficiently.

U.S. food aid should make sure that mother and children in the critical 1,000-day window between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday get the nutrients they need. Agricultural development assistance should target smallholder farmers.

The post Rebalancing Act: Updating U.S. Food and Farm Policies | The 2012 Hunger Report appeared first on Bread for the World.

The dramatic surge in global hunger as a result of a spike in food prices in 2007-2008 galvanized support in both rich and poor countries for raising agricultural investments to the top of their development priorities. It also brought into focus the long-term consequences of hunger, especially for the youngest children.

During the 1,000 days from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday, the consequences of malnutrition are irreversible. Malnutrition and hunger are one and the same in the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Progress toward MDG 1, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, is measured by reductions in the number of underweight children. In 2008, the distinguished medical journal The Lancet attracted international attention with a series of articles on maternal and child malnutrition — in particular finding that a third of all early childhood deaths are the result of malnutrition. Nutrition is important in meeting all of the MDGs.

The United States should take the lead in strengthening international institutions that are complementary to U.S. bilateral assistance in fighting hunger and malnutrition.

The post Our Common Interest: Ending Hunger and Malnutrition | The 2011 Hunger Report appeared first on Bread for the World.

Over the past decade, the MDGs have become in many ways the most accessible set of global benchmarks — embraced by governments, civil society actors, grassroots and youth-focused groups, and celebrities alike.

However, progress on the MDGs as a whole is a mixed bag, particularly in Africa, where many of the MDG targets will not be met. For most of the past decade, global hunger has steadily increased, particularly in 2008-2009 as a food price crisis emerged in tandem with the global economic downturn. One of the most important requirements for progress on the MDGs is clear leadership at the country level, including the integration of the goals into national planning.

With a focused strategy, based on measurable results, the United States can redouble its efforts to accelerate progress on the MDGs.

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The U.S. strategy in Haiti must strengthen Haitian government capacity at each stage of the recovery process, focus on poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth, and make long-term development the primary objective. We need a strong development agency to carry out our objectives in supporting Haiti’s long-term reconstruction; USAID should be fully equipped to lead U.S. government efforts in Haiti. Our work in Haiti should ultimately result in concrete, measurable, and sustainable outcomes on the ground for Haitian people.

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USAID should once again focus attention on broad-based measures and approaches that will improve agricultural and economic growth rates, and reduce poverty at the national level. This will involve renewed emphasis on agriculture and rural development, women’s participation in the economy, education, infrastructure and capable national institutions and will require a much more deliberate development strategy carried out over a longer time horizon. To plan and implement such a strategy, USAID urgently needs to rebuild its technical capacity, especially in agriculture, rural development and economics that has been allowed to diminish over the past decades.

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Developed countries have agreed to establish a policy environment that does not undermine efforts for developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Goal Eight calls for developed countries to ensure greater coherence among an array of policies critical to achieving the MDGs. On policies related to trade, migration, and intellectual property rights, the United States and other rich countries are not living up to this agreement.

Improving its policies in trade, migration, and intellectual property rights would not only prove that the United States is fully committed to global development, but also would increase the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance.

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Effective aid includes clear objectives, host-country “ownership,” accountability and flexibility, longterm commitments, integrated approaches, and adequate and reliable resources. In working toward a more effective development assistance program, nothing less than a comprehensive reauthorization of the Foreign Assistance Act is required, and this should include a cabinet-level department for global development.

The United States must provide leadership commensurate with its resources and values. Reforming foreign assistance would strengthen the U.S. reputation around the world, and beyond that, it would be part of a more sophisticated and realistic approach to national security.

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Of the 862 million poor people around the world who are chronically hungry, 75 percent live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their earnings. Increasing agricultural productivity in poor countries is critical to reducing hunger. It increases food supply, which lowers food prices.

Poor people benefit the most because they spend a much greater share of their income on food. Increasing the productivity of smallholder farmers also raises their incomes, improving their ability to cope.

Over the last twenty years, donors have been partners in a progressive decline in support for agriculture and rural development. A substantial increase in funding for agriculture is needed but aid by itself won’t be enough. Reforming trade distorting policies in rich countries is also necessary. In addition, developing countries themselves have to provide supportive policies, along with additional investments, for donor resources to be effective.

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Developing nations face many barriers to achieving the MDGs, some unique and country-specific, others broadly shared. Common problems faced by fragile nations can be grouped into four areas: poor starting conditions; weak governance and institutions; conflict and instability; and environmental degradation.

To meet the MDGs and create a sustainable path to development, countries must adopt policies and programs to overcome these problems. Developed countries have a role to play in overcoming these barriers. Aid donors, particularly the United States, must ensure that development assistance is flexible enough to help countries address these challenges and meet the MDGs.

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The goals commit all countries in a partnership to eradicate hunger and poverty, ensure that all children have access to a primary school education, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, promote gender equality, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and ensure environmental sustainability. The MDGs also require developed countries to provide additional development assistance, grant debt relief to low-income countries and reform global trade rules to promote sustainable development.

By including measurable targets, the MDGs provide benchmarks to use in assessing progress and determining whether adjustments are needed in national and international strategies. The goals provide a framework for coordinating development efforts, and they build on decades of success in development programming around the world.

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