Hunger Busters 2.0

For Cornell University agricultural economist and development practitioner Ed Mabaya, improved seed varieties offer an easy and affordable way to improve both income and nutritional outcomes for smallholder farmers across Africa. This, he posits, is the software needed to hack the farm. He insists, however, that developing new improved varieties is only the first step – what we need is to get these varieties from research labs to farmers’ fields. On this front we still have a long way to go. First, we need coordinated campaigns to inform farmers of these new varieties, as a critical step in generating demand. Second, we need policy and regulatory reform to create the enabling environment for sustainable product delivery through seed companies and agro-dealer networks. Last but not least, we need strategic investments to fix bottlenecks that are currently stifling the flow of these Hunger Busters to farmers’ fields. Find Ed on Twitter: @EdMabaya, and on the Web: tasai.org