The Global Harvest Initiative has published the first of five policy briefs that address the need for action on global hunger and food security. Building from recent GHI research that suggests the rate of agricultural productivity must increase at a minimum of 24% per year to meet demand over the next 40 years, the policy brief focuses on the innovation and productivity gains necessary to sustainably grow more and better food.

GHI Executive Director, Dr. William G. Lesher, spoke of the pressing need to increase and improve international research in agricultural productivity,

With a surging global population and new demands on food crops, the inadequate and declining support for basic food and agricultural research must be addressed quickly, as the research process takes a minimum of ten years from laboratory to field.

“Improving Agricultural Research Funding, Structure and Collaboration” describes the notable returns on agricultural research and the role of research as the primary source for developing solutions. Dr. Jason Clay, WWF Senior Vice President of Market Transformation and a consultative partner of GHI, said,

Research is a first step in acquiring data to measure our real impact and identify alternatives. Half of the world’s farmers are producing below average results and cannot even feed their own families. Learning how to leverage research and data is critical to stimulate innovation, identify new ideas and improve productivity.”

The issue brief also highlights key research areas such as more efficient water use and the reduction of post-harvest losses, and notes that public sector research investments must be on par with private sector research to achieve significant increases in the rate of production worldwide.