09.04.2010
New competence center for the global fight against hunger
The University of Hohenheim set up a new competence center in March of this year which will join the worldwide struggle against hunger: the Food Security Center (FSC). “We not only regard ourselves as a training center for development experts, we also communicate knowledge,” according to the Center’s Director, Manfred Zeller. In its terrifying proportions, the 2008 food crisis provided ample evidence of the complex web of causes and effects which now shape our globalised world. The global community has set itself the goal of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger by the year 2015. The new institute aims to make an effective contribution to achieving this goal. The FSC offers summer schools, exchange programmes and a network of interdisciplinary PhD and PostDoc training in a “Young Excellence School”. The key tasks of the FSC are the transfer of know-how in research and providing consulting support for regional decision makers.
The work of the institute is needs driven. What, for example, can small farm households in Ethiopia do in response to climate change to protect their harvest yields? The FSC will organise a workshop on this subject in April 2010 in collaboration with national universities and local organisations in Ethiopia. The objective is to establish long-term research and teaching programmes which focus on issues such as climate change and its effect on agricultural practice. The development policy objectives are to produce institutional and technical solutions which ultimately help small farmers to adapt their cultivation methods and selection of crop plants.
Speculation with food commodities on the world market, growing demand for biofuels and climate change all impact the production and supply of food. The most important step which can be taken in all developing countries to combat hunger is to invest in local specialist knowledge. “If we provide young people good training and if they stay at home after they have been trained, the effects are felt for 20 to 30 years and longer precisely because these people are then able to pass on their know-how to others,” says Victor M. Jimenez, Professor at the Universidad de Costa Rica. His university is one of the many international partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America which are participating in the “Food Security Center” in Hohenheim. The new project is financially supported to the tune of five million euros by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as part of its “Higher Education Excellence in Development Co-operation" programme.
