Feed the Future Highlighted at USAID’s Annual Ramadan Iftar

Around this time last year, we were working together to respond to devastating drought in the Horn of Africa and address the urgent needs of 13.3 million people across Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Although the worst of this particular crisis is over, we know that 1 billion people still go to bed hungry every night across the world. And we know that there are steps we can take right now to alleviate hunger and malnutrition and lay the foundation for a safer, more prosperous future.

That is the vision of Feed the Future,  President Obama’s global food security initiative that brings together the expertise of a range of U.S. agencies.

Today, we are:

• Bridging our long-standing commitment to humanitarian assistance and food aid with increased investment in agriculture, nutrition, and governance
• Harnessing the power of science and technology to deliver transformational agricultural research, like drought and disease-resistant tolerant seeds
• Supporting safety nets and innovative insurance programs that are the backbone of farming in the United States

We are also working to dramatically increase private sector investment in agriculture—bringing companies, local smallholder farmers, and partner governments together to lift 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty and hunger in a decade.  So far, more than 45 global and local companies have committed more than $4 billion—to expand seed production and distribution, establish small-scale irrigation systems, and source for food for global supply chains.

• Continue reading the blog post on the USAID IMPACTblog
• Read a blog post on the event on the USDA Blog