Breakout Session Innovating the Global Food Supply Chain
Breakout Session: Innovating the Global Food Supply Chain
While the world has made tremendous progress in reducing extreme hunger, total success is hindered by harmful practices such as land mismanagement, use of low-quality seeds and topsoil, and supply chain inefficiencies. Today, 795 million people are undernourished while 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted annually. Smallholder farmers—80 percent of whom are women—produce over half of the world’s food supply, yet most live on wages of less than $2 a day. To overcome these remaining challenges, innovations can be incorporated at every stage of the global food supply chain. Innovations, such as affordable drones used to monitor crop health, can increase crop yield, durability, and nutrition while decreasing environmental degradation, improving livelihoods for smallholder farmers, and achieving food security for all.
In this session, leaders from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors will discuss how CGI members can:
• Develop and finance technologies and techniques that improve yields, nutrition, and profit.
• Expand growth opportunities for smallholder farmers to include credit, savings, and insurance products.
• Reduce food and environmental waste through innovation in cold chains and integrated distribution channels.
• Invest in women-friendly farming techniques and technology that supports women’s land and water rights.
MODERATOR:
Raj Kumar, President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex
PARTICIPANTS:
Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director, World Food Programme
T R Kesavan, Chief Operating Officer, Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited
Zia Khan, Vice President, Initiatives & Strategy, The Rockefeller Foundation
Breakout Session Innovating the Global Food Supply Chain
Breakout Session: Innovating the Global Food Supply Chain
While the world has made tremendous progress in reducing extreme hunger, total success is hindered by harmful practices such as land mismanagement, use of low-quality seeds and topsoil, and supply chain inefficiencies. Today, 795 million people are undernourished while 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted annually. Smallholder farmers—80 percent of whom are women—produce over half of the world’s food supply, yet most live on wages of less than $2 a day. To overcome these remaining challenges, innovations can be incorporated at every stage of the global food supply chain. Innovations, such as affordable drones used to monitor crop health, can increase crop yield, durability, and nutrition while decreasing environmental degradation, improving livelihoods for smallholder farmers, and achieving food security for all.
In this session, leaders from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors will discuss how CGI members can:
• Develop and finance technologies and techniques that improve yields, nutrition, and profit.
• Expand growth opportunities for smallholder farmers to include credit, savings, and insurance products.
• Reduce food and environmental waste through innovation in cold chains and integrated distribution channels.
• Invest in women-friendly farming techniques and technology that supports women’s land and water rights.
MODERATOR:
Raj Kumar, President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex
PARTICIPANTS:
Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director, World Food Programme
T R Kesavan, Chief Operating Officer, Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited
Zia Khan, Vice President, Initiatives & Strategy, The Rockefeller Foundation