The initiative, known as AgResults, involves providing financial incentives to partners in the private sector, in order to promote research and development on food security challenges.
Public funds will be provided to only those partners who would demonstrate measurable results in specific areas such as improving harvest management and nutritional fortification of staple foods.
In the future, the initiative will launch a number of pilot projects which will seek to address some of the major problems in global food security and agricultural development.
The initial project, which is set to be introduced later this year, will focus on maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa by - giving incentives to smallholder farmers for adopting on-farm storage technology; establishing a market for new vitamin A-enhanced varieties of maize; and promoting the distribution of breakthrough technology to lower aflatoxin contamination.
Additional projects which will be explored in the coming years include -increasing the adoption of livestock vaccines, fertilizer innovation, improving crop yields, lowering post-harvest losses, increasing livestock productivity and improving nutrition.
AgResults was developed in response to the need for increased investment in global food security and agriculture, in order to feed the growing world population.
Leaders at the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto had committed to evaluating ways of leveraging private sector research and development to address food security challenges, which led to a two-year effort to develop AgResults, culminating in the launch of the initiative.
