Feed the Future, which was launched in 2010, renews the U.S. Government’s commitment to invest in sustainably reducing hunger and poverty, and places responsible land-based investment at the core of its programs—including clarifying land rights and maximizing the positive impact of agricultural investments on women, smallholder farmers, and families’ nutritional status.
The U.S. Government’s pledge of at least $3.5 billion to support agricultural development and food security over three years has helped to leverage and align more than $18.5 billion from other donors supporting a comprehensive approach to achieving sustainable food security. Integral to this approach is the creation of enabling environments that are conducive to agricultural growth and food security; these often hinge upon securing land and property rights of smallholders, investors, and other resource users. Clear and secure property rights for landholders and users reduce the potential for conflict and the threat of eviction; provide incentives to conserve and improve these assets; encourage land-related investments; allow land rental and sales markets to transfer land to more productive uses and users; and, if coupled with cost-effective systems of land administration, reduce the cost of credit by leveraging these assets as collateral.
Additionally, in 2016, the Global Food Security Act (GFSA) was signed into law, which aligns global development issues of food insecurity, malnutrition and global poverty with U.S. national security interests, including acknowledging progress “in the promotion of land tenure rights,” particularly regarding women and smallholder farmers as essential to a strategy that will achieve greater food security. The GFSA strengthens the Feed the Future initiative’s existing accountability mechanisms and establishes parameters for robust Congressional oversight, monitoring and evaluation of impact toward this commitment.
More information can be found on the Feed the Future website.