The World Bank has recently set up the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multi-donor trust fund to improve food security and incomes in low-income countries through assistance to agriculture. This multi-lateral financing mechanism includes both a public- and private-sector financing window to provide grants, loans and equity investments aimed at raising agricultural productivity, linking farmers to markets, reducing risk and vulnerability, improving non-farm rural livelihoods, and providing technical assistance and capacity development. The fund’s founding donors, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Spain, the United States of America and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged initial contributions totalling $880 million.

The webcast on the Emerging Global Food Crisis got me thinking about the sustainability of feeding programs alongside a food crisis. At the moment, Nestlé Philippines has a feeding program in place and its sustainability is dependent on the parent volunteers through the improvement of their livelihoods, which will eventually enable them to run the feeding program on their own. In essence, however, the sustainability of a feeding program is also largely dependent on the availability of food. The presence of a school garden can be one solution to this availability problem. Just to illustrate, in Rwanda, the planted school gardens benefited the school and the community in several ways. They increased the students’ knowledge on food security and nutrition. The students acquired gardening skills, and most importantly the school garden provided constant food supply for the ongoing feeding programs in place. Some schools in the area were even provided cow sheds and hen houses, as well as Friesian cows to care for. These cows were used for the children's milk consumption while cow dung was used for soil fertility. The feeding program enabled the schools to save money in the long run as their food supply came from their own garden. Any surplus in produce was sold to the community to garner profit, thus benefiting the school even more in the process. To know more about the Rwandan School Gardens click on this link: School Garden in Rwanda Often times, land space and availability are issues to consider when it comes to producing school gardens. Click on the link to see how an NGO called Send a Cow in Uganda tackled that problem by creating “bag gardens.” Send a Cow, Uganda

Each year tens of thousands of gallons of rainwater runs off your roof, not only does that water then spread waste from cities and towns into rivers and streams, it can also be diverted, collected, and put to good use. For people interested in the intersection between sustainability and agriculture, the Rain Reserve easily diverts water through gutters and a purification system into a barrel.  The fresh, clean rainwater is a great reminder of how small changes can make a big difference when it comes to scare and shared resources like a community water supply.

Watch this video to learn more about Sierra Orchards in Winters, California--one of the early adopters of water conservation and efficiency practices featured in the report Sustaining California Agriculture in an Uncertain Future. This is the first in a series of California success stories in agricultural water use to be released March 2010.

Check out how mango farmers in India are working with companies directly, instead of through agricultural traders. Many of these farmers were dependant on such traders to sell their produce – and they are meant to shield them against rock-bottom prices – but some contend the traders increase their own margins at the farmer’s expense. One agricultural development manager says, "We are trying to [ensure we receive] good materials. Instead of giving 6 percent to the traders, I'd rather spend 5 percent on agricultural extension work and keep 1 percent for myself. This is basically about creating value for both the farmers and the company.” By using corporate agricultural improvement techniques, these mango farmers are seeing 20 – 30 percent increases in their yields and they’re preserving declining water tables. This is a great example of what we mean by creating shared value – something Nestlé has been doing around the world for years.