Agricultural experts from the G20 countries will meet this week to find ways to match the latest research and technology to the growing demand for more food. It’s estimated the world’s population will grow to nine billion by 2050.
The meeting in Montpellier, France, stems from last November’s G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. During that conference, France, Japan, Canada and Brazil were asked to focus more on food security.
For guidance, they called on U.N. agencies, the World Bank, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, known as CGIAR, and the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, or GFAR.
“It’s increasing the cooperation and coordination amongst the G20 and their agricultural research systems and how those are mobilized better into working directly in support of developing country needs,” said Mark Holderness, executive secretary of GFAR.
That coordination and cooperation includes looking at long-term solutions and not just immediate crises, like the drought in the Horn of Africa.
“In two days we’re not going to change the world,” he said, “But I think what we can do is start to look at some innovative ways to work together to really recognize the new architecture that’s out there and the relationships between countries, the capabilities of countries. Start to tap Brazil, China, India. They all have huge capabilities in their own right and they’re just beginning to reach out and mobilize those for other countries.” (…)
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