Performance Goal Statement: By September 30, 2015, increase the number of farmers and others who have applied new technologies or management practices to eight million, from a corrected base of five million in 2012.
Performance Goal Overview
Although global hunger continues to decline, nearly 800 million people in the world, or roughly one in eight, suffer from chronic hunger, and the vast majority of them live in developing regions. In addition, the world’s population is projected to increase to nine billion by 2050. This population increase and changes in diets will require at least a 60 percent increase in global food production, without adversely affecting the environment.
Investments in global agriculture and nutrition are the key to addressing these issues.
Improving food security rose to prominence as a global development goal in recent years due to factors such as food price spikes, increasing rates of poverty, and social unrest related to poverty and hunger. At the 2009 G-8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy, global leaders—including President Obama—agreed to take significant action to improve food security through a renewed financial commitment to agricultural development and a commitment to reform the way the international community approaches food security. In 2012, recognizing the critical role of the private sector in sustainable agricultural transformation, President Obama, African leaders, and other G-8 members announced the launch of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, a shared commitment among donors, African governments, and corporate partners to achieving sustained and inclusive agricultural growth and collectively raising 50 million people out of poverty in Africa by 2022. As a result, more than 200 global and African companies have committed to invest $10.2 billion to benefit 8.7 million smallholders through sourcing or services, with $1.8 billion invested through 2014.
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The Feed the Future initiative is the U.S. government’s contribution to the collaborative global effort to fight poverty, hunger, and under nutrition. The initiative’s goals are to 1) reduce the prevalence of poverty by an average of 20 percent and 2) reduce the prevalence of stunted children under five years of age by an average of 20 percent across the 19 focus country zones of influence where USAID is investing and working.
Feed the Future works with the global community to:
• Advance comprehensive strategies that focus on improving the productivity and market access of small-scale producers, particularly women, who make up the majority of small farmers in developing
countries;
• Catalyze private sector economic growth, finance, and trade with necessary investments in public goods as well as policy, legal, and regulatory reforms;
• Use science and technology to sustainably increase agricultural productivity;
• Protect the natural resource base upon which agriculture depends;
• Build resilience and help to prevent recurrent food crises in vulnerable regions; and
• Improve nutrition for women and young children as a foundation for future growth.
Feed the Future is well-positioned to support the U.S. government’s aim to promote inclusive economic growth, reduce extreme poverty, and improve food security, as outlined in the State Department-USAID Joint Strategic Plan.
For the FY 2016 APR/FY 2017 APP, the food security performance goal statement will be revised to demonstrate progress made in reducing rates of poverty and stunting in the Feed the Future zones of influence, compared to baseline survey results. The new goal statement aligns with the FY 2016 – 2017 USAID Food Security Agency Priority Goal.
By September 30, 2017, interim data will have demonstrated that over half of Feed the Future focus countries reduced the prevalence of poverty or stunting in their zones of influence by 10 percent or greater during the first three years of implementation.
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Performance Goal Progress Update
Key Indicator: Number of farmers and others who have applied new technologies or management practices as a result of U.S. government assistance
FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017
Target 7 million 8 million 8 million 8.5 million
Result 6.8 million 8.5 million
Indicator Analysis
Examples of new technologies and management practices include improved irrigation techniques, use of
improved/certified seeds, integrated pest management, sustainable fishing practices, and improved postharvest storage techniques. These interventions help to improve agricultural productivity and household incomes, increase access to nutritious foods, and reduce hunger and undernutrition. This indicator supports USAID’s intermediate goal to enhance human and institutional capacity for increased sustainable agriculture sector development, helping to improve food security in target areas.
In FY 2015, 8.5 million farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers applied new technologies or management practices, which is above our target of eight million. This was accomplished through on-going efforts to bring proven technologies and innovations to scale, increasing the impact of U.S. investments.
For example, in FY 2015, Feed the Future assisted over 27,000 maize farmers in Ghana to apply new
technologies such as row planting, plant spacing, improved fertilizer application, and improved post-harvest handling practices. Despite on-going security concerns, efforts in Mali enabled Feed the Future to assist 144,000 farmers in using improved technologies and management practices. In Rwanda, over 100,000 farmers applied improved technologies and management practices with the support of Feed the Future, such as maize shellers and drying equipment to improve post-harvest handling.
Indicator Methodology
Data source: FY 2015 Performance Reports for Bangladesh, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, USAID Bureau For Food Security, USAID Regional Development Mission-Asia, USAID Sahel Regional, USAID Southern Africa Regional, and USAID West Africa Regional, as reported in the Feed the Future Monitoring System. This system is used to collect results data for Feed the Future (FTF) initiative-funded activities.
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Data quality: Performance data, verified using Data Quality Assessments (DQAs), must meet standards of validity, integrity, precision, reliability, and timeliness. Each Operating Unit must document the methodology used to conduct the DQAs. DQA and data source records are maintained in the Performance Management Plans.
(For details, refer to USAID's Automated Directive System [ADS] Chapter 203.3.11,
http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/203.pdf). As of the APP/APR publish date, full data quality reviews of performance data are on-going. The final figure for this indicator will be published in the Feed the Future Progress Report later this year, along with other Feed the Future performance data.
Key Indicator: Amount of Feed the Future funds disbursed since 2010 FY 2015
This indicator matches reporting for USAID’s Food Security Agency Priority Goal. Targets through FY 2015 for reporting quarterly disbursements against the L’Aquila pledge were developed in 2013, based off historical rates of disbursement. USAID was slightly below targets during FY 2015, but consistently remained within 90 percent of the target. As the FY 2015 Q4 target for disbursements of $2.840 billion is greater than actual total USAID obligations counting against the L’Aquila pledge, it was not possible to meet the disbursement target. Thus USAID is revising the indicator target for FY 2015 Q4 to $2.525 billion. The revised target also takes into account actual disbursements over the past several quarters being slightly lower than target disbursements. In a few cases, humanitarian crises hindered program implementation and affected our disbursement targets (e.g., Mali, Ebola). USAID achieved 99.3 percent of the revised target for FY 2015 Q4 disbursement of funds. To ensure that funds are utilized in a timely manner, USAID launched an ambitious and wide-ranging technology scaling effort (including drought-tolerant maize, legumes, etc.) which will help to ensure funds will be disbursed.
Disbursement of funds demonstrates continued progress in food security programs, both in USAID missions and through the Bureau for Food Security’s centrally-managed mechanisms. FTF programs assist farmers and food producers to use new technologies and management practices to improve crop yields and create additional sales.
As this indicator tracks disbursements against the 2009 L’Aquila pledge, which make up a portion of USAID funding supporting the FTF initiative, this indicator will be dropped in FY 2016. USAID has disbursed 91 percent of funds obligated towards the pledge, as of the end of FY 2015.
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Indicator Methodology
Data source: This indicator tracks USAID disbursements against pledges to the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, which was launched at the 2009 G-8 Summit. USAID’s contribution to the L’Aquila pledge comprises obligations from FY 2010 – FY 2012 resources. Disbursement data for this indicator are taken from USAID’s financial management system. Data reflects only USAID’s contribution to FTF, which is a whole of government initiative.
Data quality: USAID’s financial management system provides real time information on disbursements. The validity of information is subject to the Agency’s internal controls. (For details, refer to USAID's Automated Directive System [ADS] Chapter 596 http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/596.pdf).