DuPont Asks African Stakeholders: How Can We Help the World Feed Itself?

Helping the world population feed itself in a sustainable way is one of the defining challenges of our century, Jim Borel, DuPont executive vice president, reiterated during a listening tour of Malawi and Kenya.

Jim and other DuPont leaders were in Africa this month, accompanying the DuPont Committee on Agriculture Innovation and Productivity. The Committee was formed in 2010 to examine the challenges and opportunities in addressing the food productivity gap.

Chaired by former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, the committee met with government leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, students, farmers and others in Africa to learn first hand what needs to be done to address the challenge.

“It is clear that local solutions are key to helping the world feed itself" said Senator Daschle. “There is nothing like being there to truly understand the needs, challenges and opportunities to make a difference.”

“Collaboration on a scale we have never seen before will be needed to help the world feed itself,” Jim said. “As a global community, we need to come together and find new models to get this job done.”

The committee will release their recommendations later this year.