Bayer CropScience: Let's fight global hunger by driving a New Revolution in Agriculture

“As CEO of Bayer CropScience – and as a born-and-bred Dubliner – such a commitment resonates strongly with me”, said Liam Condon.

2013 could spell disaster for the world’s almost one billion hungry people. This point has been recognized by Ireland which- during its presidency of the European Commission – is committed to focusing on enhancing global food security.

We need to boost food production by 70 percent  in order to feed a forecast nine billion people by 2050.

History has demonstrated during the Green Revolution of the 1960s that higher-yielding seeds, improved crop protection methods and increased use of fertilizer can help to plug the hunger gap.

Today - because our planet is also buckling from environmental degradation – we now need to raise agricultural productivity through means that are more sustainable and environmentally-compatible.

In essence, we need nothing less than a New Revolution in Agriculture.

I believe multi-stakeholders can help breathe life into a New Revolution by executing a five-point action plan which drives sustainability across many levels, including: 1.) Increasing innovation investments; 2.) empowering farmers in the long-term; 3.) driving climate-smart solutions;4.) enhancing nutrition; as well as 5.) executing sustained partnerships.  

To begin with increasing investments in innovation: Although the United Nations Food Agency notes that investment in R&D is the most productive way to support agriculture, the crop protection industry overall is seeing a decline of what we call “new active ingredients”. Meanwhile it is highly-promising that some companies – including ours - are bucking the international trend, with a prolific output and focus on launching farmer-focused solutions. Nonetheless, we could further catalyze our progress towards food security if both the private and public sectors injected more funds into agricultural innovation.  

This brings me to point 2.) namely empowering farmers to fully leverage the benefits of agricultural products and tools.With millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries still using handheld hoes, it is critical that we help transform them into what I call “agripreneurs”, by providing them with the tools, technology and training to sustainably survive and thrive.

The third element of my five-point proposal concerns the need to protect our environment. Because many small-holder farmers are also among the world’s hungry, their main priority is to feed their family- and not necessarily environmental protection. But with agriculture often being lambasted for accounting for 70 percent of the world’s fresh water, it is crucial that we train our farmers to adopt techniques that require less water and emit less gas.

Beyond climate-critical areas, another branch of research that is being increasingly explored is nutrition –the fourth focal point of my proposed action plan. With one third of the world’s children not growing to their full potential due to insufficient nutrition, the industry is boosting investments into an exciting field called bio-fortification, which can enhance a crop’s uptake of nutrients like zinc, iron and iodine.

While the private sector is busy sharpening its focus on investing in innovation; empowering farmers; creating climate-smart solutions; and enhancing the nutritional content of crops, we also require support from the public sector to ensure that the countries we invest in have a robust legal framework; secure political landscape; positive economic outlook; and reliable infrastructure.

For this reason – and because thousands of people are still dying every day from hunger and hunger-related causes - we need to urgently forge closer multi-stakeholder relations with governments, academic institutions, NGOs and individuals across the world.

I believe we have great potential to make a positive difference: So let’s use 2013 as a turning-point year when we join forces to fuel a New Revolution in Agriculture that can help fight world hunger – and drive sustainability, economic growth, health and nutrition today and tomorrow.