New farming methods and crops that perform better in a changing environment are essential to higher living standards, but obtaining these innovations are too often impossible for small-scale farmers. “Our interest is to have improved seed varieties like beans,” she says. “We want them so our community and our people can succeed.”
For years, policymakers in her country had promised that better days were ahead for farmers like her. But those assurances rarely translated into more bountiful harvests or meaningful economic opportunities.
The agricultural policymakers themselves faced their own challenges: how to identify the latest research that could translate into gains for the farmers in their districts, countries and regions. With limited agricultural data at their disposal, they wrangle estimates from inaccurate or out-of-date information as they try to make life better for the people in their districts.
Those policymakers often rely on donor-supported programs to accelerate agricultural programs. And just like the farmers and policymakers, the donor agencies themselves are often in the dark about what actions can bring tangible results to smallholder farmers and the world’s hungry.
“Ending hunger is an amazing, achievable goal that everyone can get behind, but in reality it’s extremely complex and frankly unsolvable if we don’t commit to thinking differently about how we solve it,” says Jaron Porciello, who leads Ceres2030 in the Department of Global Development. “This undertaking requires all hands on deck – not just farmers, but scientists, politicians, governments and policymakers, working together. It needs a holistic approach.”
In September 2015, the United Nations set an ambitious timetable to solve a series of sustainable development goals. No. 2 on its list was an initiative to achieve zero hunger by 2030.
The global hunger eradication effort has brought thousands of researchers backed by billions in agricultural and development projects. For private and government donors that are committed to participating in these goals, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States’ Agency for International Development and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation, the clock is ticking to find solutions that can be used to eradicate hunger for poor, rural communities all over the world. With less than ten years and more than 550 million people affected by hunger, donors need a mix of proven solutions to help them prioritize where they will spend their limited resources.