Cargill participates in global hunger conference at U.S. State Department

 

What are the roles of the private and public sectors in addressing global hunger? That was the central question posed on October 24 to Cargill Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Page and other panelists at a global hunger conference at the U.S. Department of State. The conference was hosted by World Food Program USA, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State. At the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presented WFP USA’s George McGovern Leadership Award to Howard Buffett, president, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Bill Gates, co-chair, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in recognition of their leadership in establishing the World Food Program’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative. The Initiative helps transition small-scale farmers from extreme poverty and chronic hunger into active participants in agricultural markets.

The conference opened with a speech from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who discussed how food security and political stability are closely linked. He also discussed the Obama administration’s Feed the Future initiative, and called out how investments in development are investments in peace. In her remarks, Secretary Clinton said that “Ending hunger is not only possible, but a moral and strategic imperative.”

When asked why he became personally involved in the fight against hunger, Gates said if you can raise farmer incomes, it changes livelihoods very quickly and “the most immediate impact on poverty reduction is investment in agriculture.”

Page participated in a panel discussion with Howard Buffett; Dr. Rajiv Shah, administrator, USAID; and The Honorable Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

A central theme at the conference was the private sector playing a key role in addressing food security, and the importance of markets. Howard Buffett said the success of the P4P initiative is that the WFP uses its buying power to bring small farmers into the market, but the market itself is the “exit strategy” as these same farmers now sell to commercial entities and are part of a supply chain. 

When asked about the role of government in terms of increasing food security, Page commented that “Free trade is a key role of governments. Farmers, as they find success, need access to markets.”

When asked about the role of the smallholder farmer in alleviating global hunger, Page said, “Agriculture is a very local business. The world can grow the calories it needs, but for the smallholder farmer, we need to offer some kind of income assurance. If the farmer grows a good crop, and as a result, gets a diminished price, he won’t reinvest the next year.”

Howard Buffett said that the private sector is now participating in a very different way on the food security issue than ten years ago, and there is a willingness on the part of the public sector to work in a more collaborative way with other sectors to address this pressing issue.

Cargill has supported the World Food Programme for nearly ten years to improve nutrition, health and educational opportunities for children in Central America, Africa and Asia. Over this timeframe, Cargill has contributed to projects focused on school meals, hygiene and sanitation, childhood nutrition, as well as emergency relief operations.