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JULY 2023
The Fight Against Hunger is Not Over
Compounding shocks in recent years – protracted conflict, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic – have threatened progress to improve food security and nutrition. While food and fertilizer prices have stabilized and countries continue to recover economically from the pandemic, we’re not out of the woods yet. This month, FAO’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 report found that over 122 million more people are facing hunger in the world since 2019 due to the pandemic and repeated weather shocks and conflicts, including the war in Ukraine.
Feed the Future recognizes that the fight for food security for all is ongoing and continues to support farmers and communities in the most vulnerable countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently announced $260 million in additional funding to bolster the work of Feed the Future in countries across Africa and Asia that have been hardest hit by recent shocks. Through these strategic investments, Feed the Future continues to collaborate with local partners and governments to make a difference on-the-ground.
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Climatelinks Photo Contest is Now Open
Have a good photo or two of USAID at work when it comes to climate? The Climatelinks Photo Contest is now taking submissions. This year’s theme is USAID’s Climate Strategy in Action: Confronting the Climate Crisis Across Sectors. Climatelinks is looking for images that show the issues, impacts and solutions to climate change across 13 categories. The photo contest runs through August 7.
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DFC and USAID Support New Financing in Ghana
Feed the Future partners USAID and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) are working with two local financial institutions to expand financial opportunities for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana’s agricultural sector. The U.S. agencies are supporting up to $25 million in new financing that will help lower risk and expand credit to regions and borrowers that do not typically have access to bank loans.
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USDA and NASA Strengthen Collaboration
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will strengthen their joint efforts to improve agricultural and Earth science research, technology, and agricultural management, and the application of science data and models to agricultural decision making. The work so far between USDA and NASA has led to new ways of improving American and international agriculture, protecting the environment and helping improve human health.
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Defining the Cost of Resilience
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk and Resilience spent two years developing an economic measure of resilience, which makes it possible to identify which households are most vulnerable to shocks, and to compare how well different development programs strengthen resilience. The model uses commonly available data and compares households who experienced a shock with similar households to determine cumulative losses caused by the shock.
Making a DIY Sustainable Fish Trap
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish presents an instructional video on how to make a do-it-yourself sustainable fish trap. The fish trap was developed by the Innovation Lab and can last six years or longer, is reusable and helps support fish ecosystems. The fish trap is currently being used in coastal East Africa but can be used worldwide.
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Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.
Photo Credit: Adam Finch/Root Capital
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