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IDRC believes that poverty alleviation, food security, and environmental sustainability go hand in hand. IDRC Photo: Jason Taylor

The global economic crisis, ongoing conflict, rising food prices, and climate change are wreaking havoc on food security in the developing world.

The UN estimates that the number of hungry people in the world now exceeds one billion for the first time. The economic downturn stands to push millions more into hunger and malnourishment.

For nearly 40 years, IDRC has supported researchers from the developing world in their efforts to combat hunger and poverty:

• In Ethiopia, IDRC provided funding for agronomist Gebisa Ejeta’s early efforts to protect sorghum, an important food crop, from the parasitic weed striga. Ejeta was awarded the 2009 World Food Prize for developing a variety of sorghum resistant to both drought and striga. This stronger strain yields as much as four times the amount of grain as traditional varieties.
  
  
• In Rosario, Argentina, a project financed by IDRC has helped 10,000 families establish 790 community gardens that feed more than 40,000 people
  
  
• In Colombo, Sri Lanka, a coalition of municipal authorities, community organizations, and researchers working with McGill University’s School of Architecture are upgrading a crowded slum to accommodate urban agriculture and provide poor families with nutritious food and much needed income.
  
  
• In South Africa, Zambia, and Malawi, IDRC-supported research on the links between food policy, the burden of disease, and increases in HIV/AIDS prevalence is informing policy in the health, education, and agricultural sectors.

Learn more about how IDRC is turning research into action:

News:

Government of Canada Announces New Canadian International Food Security Research Fund
This CA$62 million fund, a joint initiative between IDRC and the Canadian International Development Agency, will support research partnerships between Canadian and developing-country organizations.

Research That Matters

Making a World of Difference: Is a city also a garden? 
IDRC research is helping urban farmers transform wastelands into food and flowers.

Escape From a Toxic "Catch-22"
In the poverty-stricken highlands of Ecuador, IDRC is turning the tide against the use of highly toxic pesticides that have increased potato yields at the expense of people's health.

Feeding the Sustainable City
Thanks to pioneering research led by IDRC, many Southern cities are now re-examining their attitude to urban agriculture. The challenge is to identify how urban agriculture can benefit city farmers and other residents.

Feature Articles

Wastewater Shores Up Food Security
Already home to more than half of humanity, cities are growing rapidly in the world’s poorest countries. Amid food-price volatility and climate shocks, food production in and around these cities should be encouraged to meet the increasing demands, argues the head of IDRC's Urban Poverty and Environment program.

Small and Big Efforts Both Belong in Food Security Drive
Although some commentators dubbed the recent food crisis a “silent tsunami,” in reality it didn’t come out of the blue. It was years in the making. Since the boost in food production known as the Green Revolution alleviated realistic fears of worldwide famine in the 1960s and 1970s, agriculture has fallen off the global radar screen.

A Multipronged Approach to Ensuring Food Security
IDRC research focuses on the intersection of poverty alleviation, food security, and environmental sustainability.

Food Security — Seeds of Threat, Seeds of Solutions
Over the past few decades, plant breeders have developed new high-yielding cereal varieties. This very success, however, could lead to a gradual loss of plant species, threatening the world’s future food security.

New Insights on AIDS, Food and Nutrition
The global food crisis threatens to undo progress made against HIV/AIDS, as vulnerable populations resort to high-risk behaviour to survive.This article follows Stuart Gillespie as he discusses the interaction between HIV, food security, and livelihoods at the 2008 International AIDS conference held in Mexico City.

From Green to Evergreen: Updating the Food Revolution
Hunger can be eradicated “in my lifetime,” says the man known as the father of the Green Revolution in India. M.S. Swaminathan speaks about his values, his achievements, and his ambitions.

Multimedia

Helping the Urban Poor Feed Themselves and Make Money
Rosario, Argentina has become an international showcase for urban agriculture, thanks in part to IDRC and its long years of supporting research.

Food Security Slide Show
To better understand the issues of food security and hunger, view the slideshow.

IDRC Books

The Future Control of Food: A Guide to International Negotiations and Rules on Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Food Security This award-winning book is the first wide-ranging guide to the key issues of intellectual property and ownership, genetics, biodiversity, and food security. It discusses civil society responses to relevant changes and developments in these issues, how they affect the direction of research and development, the nature of global negotiation processes, and various alternative futures.

in_focus: GROWING BETTER CITIES Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Development As cities grow, so do the number of urban poor. As a result, more and more people are attempting to grow at least some of their own food to supplement poor diets and meager incomes. This book reviews the research experience of IDRC and its partners, including local governments, into the issues surrounding urban agriculture, with a particular emphasis on the influence that research has had on government policies.

More IDRC Books on Food Security and Agriculture

2009

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