Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger

The Ceres2030 project identifies a funding gap of USD 33 billion per year to achieve SDG 2 targets, with USD 14 billion coming from donors and USD 19 billion from recipient countries. The report emphasizes that most existing agricultural research ignores the needs of smallholders, who represent over 80% of the world's farms. Key recommendations include investing in extension services, climate-resilient crops, social protection, and supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the value chain. The project utilizes a complex general equilibrium model and machine-learning-assisted evidence synthesis to identify a portfolio of 14 policy instruments across three categories: empowering the excluded, on-farm interventions, and food on the move.

• To end hunger and double the incomes of small-scale producers in low- and middle-income countries by 2030, an additional USD 33 billion per year is needed, consisting of USD 14 billion from donors and USD 19 billion from the countries themselves through increased taxation.
• The current body of agricultural research is largely irrelevant to smallholder farmers; more than 95% of assessed studies were not relevant to the needs of smallholders and their families, and less than 2% of the available evidence base is pertinent to the questions donors typically investigate, such as intervention costs.
• Small-scale producers represent over 80% of the world's farms, and those with less than 2 hectares produce between 30% and 34% of the global food supply.
• The adoption of climate-resilient crops is most strongly determined by the availability and effectiveness of extension services, followed by the education level of the household head and access to inputs like seeds and fertilizers.
• Membership in farmers' organizations is associated with positive income effects in 57% of reviewed cases, primarily by strengthening producers' market power.
• Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the value chain, particularly in Africa, are correlated with higher technology adoption and productivity among small-scale producers by providing complementary services such as credit, training, and market links.
• Post-harvest loss reduction is dominated by storage technology research, with 83% of studies focusing on this area, while there is a critical lack of evidence on training, finance, policy, and infrastructure interventions.
• Social protection programs are most effective when they create a bridge to productive employment and remove barriers to accessing markets, education, and credit.
• In water-scarce regions of low- and middle-income countries, less than 37.2% of small-scale farms are irrigated, compared to 43.2% of non-small-scale farms.
• The project's economic model indicates that the additional public spending of USD 33 billion per year will prevent 490 million people from experiencing hunger and double the incomes of 545 million producers and their families on average.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2020). Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger. https://ceres2030.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ceres2030-nature-portfolio-.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger. 2020. https://ceres2030.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ceres2030-nature-portfolio-.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger |date=2020 |url=https://ceres2030.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ceres2030-nature-portfolio-.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2020sustainable, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, url = {https://ceres2030.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ceres2030-nature-portfolio-.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }