Cutting World Hunger in Half

Sánchez, Pedro A.; Swaminathan, M. S.

doi:10.1126/science.1109057

Cited by 172 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Many IRD projects focused on more prosperous areas; World Bank programs, for example, were often based in high-growth areas (18). In contrast, the Millennium Villages are situated in hunger hotspots where at least 20% of children under 5 are underweight (2,3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The African Millennium Villages

Sánchez

Palm²,

Sachs³

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

176

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We describe the concept, strategy, and initial results of the Millennium Villages Project and implications regarding sustainability and scalability. Our underlying hypothesis is that the interacting crises of agriculture, health, and infrastructure in rural Africa can be overcome through targeted public-sector investments to raise rural productivity and, thereby, to increased private-sector saving and investments. This is carried out by empowering impoverished communities with science-based interventions. Seventy-eight Millennium Villages have been initiated in 12 sites in 10 African countries, each representing a major agroecological zone. In early results, the research villages in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Malawi have reduced malaria prevalence, met caloric requirements, generated crop surpluses, enabled school feeding programs, and provided cash earnings for farm families.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The African Millennium Villages

Sánchez

Palm²,

Sachs³

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

176

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the report by Sanchez et al (17) on the efforts to create millennium villages, the authors understand causation as a poverty trap in which poverty itself, hunger and disease, rapid population growth, environmental degradation, and poor governance are all mutually reinforcing (4,18). Thus, in rural areas where Ͼ70% of the population live, poverty prevents farmers from self financing or getting credit for needed farm inputs (fertilizer, improved seeds), and soils become depleted of nutrients after repeated crop cycles without sufficient replenishment (19). Poverty and environmental degradation interact with a health crisis, particularly hunger, malaria, and AIDS.…”

Section: Understanding Causationmentioning

confidence: 99%

African poverty: A grand challenge for sustainability science

Kates¹,

Dasgupta

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Of these, the first goal, to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and whose income is less than one dollar per day, is most relevant to the plant science community. Because Ͼ70% of the extreme poor who suffer from hunger live in rural areas, the effort to enhance agricultural productivity will be a key factor in achieving this goal and is listed as a key goal by the UN Hunger Task Force (1).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Agriculture in the developing world: Connecting innovations in plant research to downstream applications

Delmer

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

141

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Enhancing agricultural productivity in those areas of the world bypassed by the Green Revolution will require new approaches that provide incentives and funding mechanisms that promote the translation of new innovations in plant science into concrete benefits for poor farmers. Through better dialogue, plant breeders and laboratory scientists from both the public and private-sectors need to find solutions for the key constraints to crop production, many of which center around abiotic and biotic stresses. The revolution in plant genomics has opened up new perspectives and opportunities for plant breeders who can now apply molecular markers to assess and enhance diversity in their germplasm collections, to introgress valuable traits from new sources, and to identify genes that control key traits. Functional genomics is also providing another powerful route to the identification of such genes. The ability to introgress beneficial genes under the control of specific promoters through transgenic approaches is yet one more stepping stone in the path to targeted approaches to crop improvement, and the new sciences have identified a vast array of genes that have exciting potential for crop improvement. For a few crops with viable markets, such as maize and cotton, some of the traits developed by the private sector are already showing benefits for farmers of the developing world, but the public sector will need to develop new skills and overcome a number of hurdles to carry out similar efforts for other crops and traits useful to very poor farmers.crop genomics

show abstract

Cutting World Hunger in Half

Cited by 172 publications

References 3 publications

The African Millennium Villages

The African Millennium Villages

African poverty: A grand challenge for sustainability science

Agriculture in the developing world: Connecting innovations in plant research to downstream applications

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About