DuPont Leaders Discuss Food Security Focus on Africa
On the eve of the 2012 G8 Summit, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs convened global senior leaders to discuss new G8 efforts on food security and the opportunity and benefits of private sector investment in African agriculture and food sectors. DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman joined in a panel discussion on “Food Security at the G8,” and shared two key efforts to support collaborative, world hunger initiatives.
First, DuPont will invest more than $3 million over the next three years to help smallholder farmers in Ethiopia to achieve food security. Second, DuPont is sponsoring an innovative Global Food Security Index to measure the drivers of food security across 105 countries. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is developing the Index. Learn more about DuPont’s local investments in Africa and the Global Food Security Index.
For more information about DuPont’s food security efforts, read the recent articles below and visit foodsecurity.dupont.com.
Recent Articles:
A new way of doing business on food security
This Op-Ed, co-authored by Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania; Ellen Kullman, CEO of DuPont; and Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of USAID, was originally published on May 18, 2012 in TheHill.
Excerpt: Today, Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, home to seven of the world’s fastest-growing economies. In fact, just this week, the International Monetary Fund’s Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa projected Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth to remain above 5 percent — faster than many newly industrialized Asian economies.
The major force behind this dramatic growth has been significant increases in private sector investment and trade in the region. Foreign direct investment flows to the continent now hover around $80 billion and trade has tripled over the last decade. But this private sector boom has largely missed Africa’s agricultural economy, favoring investments in resources like oil, gas and minerals.
As a result of decades of underinvestment, today Africa is the only continent that does not produce enough to feed its own citizens. Last year’s food crisis and famine in the Horn of Africa serve as a stark reminder that chronic hunger and malnutrition remain a persistent problem on the continent.
To Fight Hunger, Inspire Youth
This blog post was originally published on May 17, 2012, on Pioneer President Paul E. Schickler’s Huffington Post blog.
Excerpt: This week some of the foremost international leaders in government, business, non-profit and academia are gathering in Washington, D.C., to inform the G8 Summit conversation on the issue of food security, and to propose solutions to feed a growing world population. Heads of State, President Obama, even Bono, are joining together at the Chicago Council Global Affairs Symposium on Friday to share their goals for eradicating world hunger today and issue calls to action for feeding nine billion people in the decades to come.
This is a powerful showing of support for improving how we produce food, get it to market and feed those who need it most. However, even with the lengthy VIP list, there will be a significant audience missing from Friday's symposium -- the people who are going to be responsible for feeding those additional two billion in 2050.
Today's youth.
The Last Mile: Reaching Women Farmers
Roger Thurow, Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, interviewed Pioneer President Paul E. Schickler and Ritu Sharma, the co-founder and president of Women Thrive Worldwide, for this Huffington Post piece originally posted on May 18, 2012.
Excerpt: Since the majority of these farmers are women, this will mean not only overcoming decades of neglect of smallholder farmers in general, but also overturning generations of entrenched gender inequality. This inequality is evident in women generally having less access to the essential elements of farming: land ownership, seed and fertilizer, capital and credit, education and training.
"If we are going to ensure global food security and make tangible progress, women farmers are an essential part of the solution," Paul said.
"And it is important that we ask them what they need," Ritu added. "The solutions need to be in sync with women farmers."
