Solution for Meeting the Rising Global Demand for Food
Concentrate on productivity increases and improved market access for small-scale farmers using public-private partnerships and modern communication technologies to disseminate technical assistance.
The contribution of small-scale farm production to food security could be improved significantly with the current level of technology if more smallscale farmers had access to modern technologies and markets. Private investments are necessary to develop cutting-edge technologies and their dissemination, but there may not be sufficient incentives to reach the most remote areas where purchasing power is low.
To overcome this drawback, public-private partnerships can be a suitable tool to ensure that small-scale farmers have access to the newest seeds that suit their environments and to technologies that can improve their market access.
Mobile telephones have already improved market access and the delivery of technical assistance in a number of African countries, notably Kenya. Such successful approaches should be scaled up using public-private partnerships along with the participation of local NGOs and farmers’ organizations.