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Feed the Future

Rising to the Challenge

Woman smiling while cooking

Rising to the Challenge

Ending global hunger is one of the defining challenges and opportunities of our time. The far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic—exacerbated by factors like climate change and rising inequality—exposed the vulnerabilities of our food systems, threatening hard-won progress in the global fight against poverty, hunger and malnutrition. All people, including women and youth, must be able to buy safe and nutritious food, provide an education for their children, and access health care, with local knowledge and solutions at the forefront.

Together with our partners, we are targeting the root causes of these challenges to build a more prosperous, stable and secure world.

Women smiling

Strengthening Resilience

In the face of inevitable shocks and stresses—from intensifying droughts to increasingly devastating floods—investing in resilience allows communities to bounce back from adversity and prevents them from sliding back into poverty. We bring humanitarian and development efforts together to break the vicious cycle of crises, contributing to a reduction in the need for costly emergency assistance in the world’s most vulnerable areas. Feed the Future supports resilience at every level.

Veronica Nalari, a longtime trader in Kenya’s northern Isiolo county

Veronica Nalari Lengirnas

Kenya

Veronica Lengirnas is a longtime trader in Oldonyiro Market. Feed the Future partnered with the Government of Kenya to revitalize the market, creating a safe, reliable, and more equitable environment where hundreds of traders like Veronica could thrive as small business owners. With support from Feed the Future, Veronica expanded her business, using profits to purchase a car, enabling her to sell even more goods. She soon became one of the busiest traders at Oldonyiro Market.

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Evelio Miranda

Honduras

In 2018, Evelio Miranda’s income declined sharply when coffee prices crashed in Honduras. The Honduran coffee farmer didn’t fret, though—he pivoted and sought partnerships to sustain his farm.


Evelio was one of several farmers who collaborated with a USAID-facilitated, private-sector partnership that established markets for high-value crops in Honduras. The partnership connected Evelio, and farmers like him, to international buyers and Honduran processors. As a result, Evelio was able to grow crops again.

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Group of people smiling

Rising to the COVID-19 Challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on food security in the developing world, threatening basic access to food, nutrition and water for millions of people. These effects will reverberate long after the pandemic ends. Feed the Future marshalled technical and human resources to help countries rapidly adapt to disruptions to production and trade in focus and aligned countries. Key entry points were marketing and market safety, where best practices to reduce COVID-19 transmission were developed and disseminated widely.

Hadija Jabiri

Hadija Jabiri

Tanzania

When Hadija Jabiri launched her company—a fresh fruit and vegetable business in Tanzania called EatFresh—she faced obstacles all too common for women in the developing world: unfavorable financing terms and limited access to markets and technology. But as the 2021 recipient of the Feed the Future Growing Women’s Entrepreneurship (GroWE) award—which helps accelerate the growth of women-owned or operated businesses in emerging markets—Jabiri now has Feed the Future’s support as she breaks down the barriers to growing a successful business.

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Resilience in Action

Nepal

Although 70 percent of its population generates income through agriculture, Nepal struggles to produce an adequate, affordable supply of safe, nutritious food, especially for women and other disadvantaged groups. This year, Nepal faced a wave of COVID-19 infections, causing an unprecedented strain on the country’s health system. Subsequent movement restrictions severely disrupted food systems. To protect progress and bolster food security, Feed the Future worked closely with Nepali farmers and business owners.

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Nepal farmer
Fisherman

Rising to the Climate Change Challenge

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. As climate shocks place increasing stress on global agriculture, food supply disruptions are becoming more common. Without significant action, temperature increases are likely to reduce yields of critical crops by an additional 5 to 30 percent between 2030 and 2050. That’s why Feed the Future has worked for more than a decade to provide resources and training in developing countries to help farmers adapt to extreme weather and climate shocks. Feed the Future will continue ensuring the use of sustainable agricultural practices and the creation of more resilient food systems.

Ut’z Che’

Ut’z Che’

Guatemala

For many developing nations grappling with climate change, chronic droughts are a familiar problem. In Guatemala, recurrent dry spells are a leading cause of soil degradation and food supply shortages, forcing many to migrate and threatening the livelihoods of local farmers. With the support of the Inter-American Foundation, a Feed the Future partner, an organization called Ut’z Che’ is helping turn the tide. Banding together a network of more than 40 indigenous farmers’ and community associations, Ut’z Che’ works with smallholder farmers throughout the country to foster sustainable farming practices.

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Connecting Space to Village

WORLDWIDE

In an instant, climate shocks like floods and storms can devastate communities, damaging farmland and infrastructure and wiping out years of hard-won progress. One of the best tools to confront this global challenge is satellite data. That is why USAID partnered with NASA in 2005 to create SERVIR. The project combines data from Earth-observing satellites, ground-based systems and geospatial technology to provide weather forecasts and analysis to local farmers, enabling them to take action before crisis strikes.

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SERVIR
Mother and child

Rising to the Nutrition Challenge

The need for more equitable, resilient and sustainable food and health systems has never been more urgent. Poor diets and malnutrition are among the leading risk factors for childhood illness and death, with low- and middle-income countries bearing the brunt of the impact. Investing in nutrition and food safety is essential for economic prosperity, ensuring future generations can reach their full potential. Feed the Future empowers people to improve their families’ diets and nutrition, especially early in life when good nutrition has a long-lasting impact.

Grace Adegoye

Grace Adegoye

Nigeria

As a champion of environmental health and nutrition, Grace Adegoye leapt at the opportunity to help fish processors in her home country of Nigeria improve the quality and safety of their products. Adegoye, a nutrition scientist at Mississippi State University, contributed to a training program developed by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish to help educate and support this vital Nigerian community.

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Monica Rani Ghosh

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, Monica Rani Ghosh and her husband sell cow’s milk as their main source of income. Feed the Future trained Ghosh’s family on improved farm management practices, helping them to double their milk production and increase their income by 75 percent. This success, coupled with Feed the Future-led nutrition education, has enabled Ghosh and her husband to double their daily milk consumption, while using their increased earnings to purchase nutrient-rich food to improve their family’s diet.

Monica Rani Ghosh

By the Numbers

Since 2011, Feed the Future has:

Unlocked more than $4 billion in agricultural financing​

Helped farmers generate more than $15.3 billion in agricultural sales

Leveraged nearly $2.2 billion in private sector investment for food security and nutrition

Global Annual Data

5.7

Million

Hectares supported by Feed the Future for improved climate risk reduction or natural resources management - roughly the size of Costa Rica - a nearly 30 percent increase compared to 20191​.

26.7

Million

Children reached by Feed the Future and other USAID partners2 with nutrition-specific interventions through USG-supported programs, eight percent higher than the 2015-2019 average.

7.8

Million

Farmers and others who have applied improved management practices or technologies​.

1 This figure includes 4 million hectares of conservation area that is not reported under the indicator “EG.3.2-25 Number of hectares under improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance, which is listed in the annual data results chart.”

2 This result includes some USAID activities beyond those funded by Feed the Future. This number represents the aggregate of country-wide results from nutrition interventions delivered through Feed the Future, USAID Food for Peace development investments and USAID Global Health nutrition programs as part of a multi-sectoral effort to combat malnutrition. Individual USAID projects are instructed to count children only once even if they are reached several times. Starting in FY 2017, this revised indicator has captured nutrition-specific interventions only.

Mother and child

For the latest global annual data, download the chart >

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