Access to Food
We want to help feed a growing global population within ecological limits, which requires sustainable means of intensifying food cultivation. We consider this objective to be inextricably linked with sustainable agriculture. This calls for preserving soil fertility, using water sparingly, protecting biodiversity and significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, along with considerably shrinking the area of land required to sustain each person. Opportunities to achieve this arise from digital “precision” agriculture and developing better seed varieties and state-of-the-art crop protection.
Sustainability Target 2030: support 100 million smallholder farmers
There are some 550 million small farms worldwide that play a central role in ensuring food security in low- and middle-income countries. Smallholders – many of them women – provide up to 80% of food in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, for example. Many smallholders can barely earn a living with their work. Their productivity is relatively low and they lack access to agricultural know-how and financing options. They are also far more susceptible to extreme weather conditions and harvest losses.
By 2030, we want to support 100 million smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries produce enough food to feed themselves and others, and to improve their incomes.They should have access to agronomic knowledge, products and services. We aim to support them through expanding our product and services portfolio developed for smallholders. This will also include access to tailored digital solutions. The focus is on improving access to agronomic expertise, products and services, and markets specifically for smallholders through collaborations and partnerships with research institutes, nongovernmental organizations, companies, social start-ups and other institutions. A good example of this is the Better Life Farming alliance, which supports smallholder farmers with training courses, market access and technology, as well as financing options. In this way, we can make an important contribution to strengthening local food production and reducing poverty in rural areas.
