Comments Off on Feeding the Future with Success Stories on the Ground
World Food Prize laureate, David Beckmann of Bread for the World, gave the keynote address at panel by the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa this morning at the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa.
In addition to talking about the broader reforms needed for U.S. development assistance to Africa and other parts of the world, Beckmann praised the Obama administration’s Feed the Future — a new global hunger and food security initiative aimed at addressing the root causes of hunger through partnerships with governments and farmers on the ground.
“It’s extraordinarily well-designed,” say Beckmann and its emphasis on listening to Africans represents “a real change in how the U.S. government works.”
Feed the Future is not without its challenges, however, according to Beckmann. The program he says needs to work really soon for African farmers and it needs quick results. And while he’s complimentary of the initiative’s promise to listen to farmers, he questions how well they’ll be able to engage African farmers and civil society.
And he says the U.S. Congress needs to step up to the plate and make sure Feed the Future is funded for the next fiscal year. “Part of our [the U.S. public] decision on November 2nd should be asking the politicians we’re voting for what they’re doing to help poor and hungry people in the U.S., as well as in Africa,” recommends Beckmann.
He also noted that the U.S. public is “more committed to alleviating hunger and poverty than they were 10 years. Beckmann cites the growth of the internet for connecting people more to global issues, as well 9-11 for getting people more interested in hunger and poverty alleviation. “9-11,” he says, “reminds us that it’s not smart to neglect misery in far off places,” and that ensuring food security for the poor and hungry now is one way to prevent future acts of terrorism.
Beckmann also reminded the audience “that there’s a wonderful story to tell about what’s going on in Africa,” that’s not reported on the nightly news. Rather than only reporting on conflict in Somalia or other parts of the region, Beckmann would like to see more reporting about how Ghana and Ethiopia have been successful at reducing the number of hungry people in their countries over the last decade—“something,” he says, “the U.S. hasn’t been able to do in our own country.”
Danielle Nierenberg, an expert on livestock and sustainability, currently serves as Project Director of State of World 2011 for the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC-based environmental think tank. Her knowledge of factory farming and its global spread and sustainable agriculture has been cited widely in the New York Times Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, and other publications.
Danielle worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. She is currently traveling across Africa looking at innovations that are working to alleviate hunger and poverty and blogging everyday at Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. She has a regular column with the Mail & Guardian, the Kansas City Star, and the Huffington Post and her writing was been featured in newspapers across Africa including the Cape Town Argus, the Zambia Daily Mail, Coast Week (Kenya), and other African publications. She holds an M.S. in agriculture, food, and environment from Tufts University and a B.A. in environmental policy from Monmouth College.
