Despite agriculture overwhelming economic position in many countries around the world, it has failed to ensure food security and to reduce poverty. Relatedly production and productivity are decreasing. This thematic addresses food security for vulnerable populations, ensures improved livelihoods for smallholder farmers, enhances market access for agricultural products and provides stable access to nutritious food.
Our FSD Programs involves all production stages along with the supporting infrastructure, institutions, and policies
- Our Food Systems Stages
- Production: Our technical teams support and ensure sustainable production of crops and livestock for specific markets.
- Processing: Our teams of food scientists and innovators support the transformation of raw agricultural products into different forms to improve value, shelf life, etc
- Distribution: This includes the transportation, storage, and marketing of food, getting it from production areas to consumers.
- Consumption: This is the final stage where food is prepared and eaten, including the disposal of any waste
2. Beyond the above basic stages, our food system also includes:
- Inputs: We support access to affordable and quality agricultural inputs such as seeds, seedlings, fertilizers, chemicals, post-harvest handling equipment, and water needed for production etc
- Infrastructure: We support physical structures like storage facilities (aggregation), and processing plants.
- Institutions: We collaborate with various organizations like government agencies, NGO’s, farmer’s groups, food companies, to ensure that food is able to move from the farmer to the consumer
- Policies: We support various entities in development of various policies, strategies, regulations and guidelines to enhance food production, distribution, and consumption.
Market Access through Contract Farming and Market Linkages: Facilitate access to markets for farmers through structured contract farming arrangements and establish robust market linkages to ensure fair trade and profitability.
Production and Productivity Improvement: Implement innovative practices and technologies to boost agricultural production and enhance productivity, ensuring greater efficiency and output.
Agribusiness Incubation: Support the growth of agribusiness ventures by providing mentorship, resources, and business development services to foster new enterprises and innovative solutions.
Market Systems Development: Strengthen market systems to improve efficiency, transparency, and resilience, creating more effective channels for the distribution and sale of agricultural products.
Inclusive Agribusiness Development: Promote equitable opportunities within the agribusiness sector, ensuring that marginalized and smallholder farmers have access to resources and opportunities for growth.
Value Chain Development: Enhance the agricultural value chain from production to consumption, focusing on improving each stage to add value, reduce waste, and increase profitability.
Marketing and Storage Infrastructure Development: Invest in and develop infrastructure for marketing and storage to reduce post-harvest losses and improve the quality and availability of food products.
Technology Generation and Transfer: Drive innovation by generating and transferring cutting-edge agricultural technologies and practices to improve farming efficiency and sustainability.
Seed Systems and Development: Develop and disseminate high-quality seeds to enhance crop performance, resilience, and yield, supporting overall agricultural productivity.
Expanded Financial Services: Provide access to financial services tailored for the agricultural sector, including credit, insurance, and investment opportunities, to support farmers and agribusinesses.
Climate Smart Agriculture / Agroecology: Promote climate-smart agricultural practices and agroecology principles to adapt to climate change, improve sustainability, and maintain ecological balance.
Why this Thematic Area
- Economy: Support livelihoods, trade, and economic growth of the stakeholders especially the women and young farmers who are most often benefit less
- Food security: Ensure that people have access to enough safe and nutritious food.
- Environment: Significant impact on the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions and resource depletion.
- Health: Influence what people eat, which in turn affects their health and well-being.