CGIAR believes the future of resilient food and agriculture systems lies in scientific innovation. But according to the network’s Executive Managing Director Ismahane Elouafi, researchers are facing a particularly “difficult environment.”

CGIAR unites 15 research centers around the globe —collectively employing more than 9,000 scientists, researchers, technicians, and staff—as they work to transform food, land, and water systems. But investment in this work is on the decline, Elouafi reports.

“Really what we are seeing is that hunger is rising, but funding is falling,” Elouafi tells Food Tank. “Everybody should remember that…one in every eleven people globally is going to bed without food and feeling hunger and malnutrition.”

While the recent dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is alarming, Elouafi says that she has been “very concerned” for the last few years, “particularly since COVID started.”

According to a study published in World Development, CGIAR funding peaked in 2014. By 2020, it had declined by more than 25 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars, demonstrating the need for funding for scientific innovation to solve hunger.

“I think all scientists feel frustrated and feel helpless when they know that they can produce solutions,” Elouafi tells Food Tank, “but they don’t have access to that funding to bring the solutions.”

Elouafi reports that the returns on agricultural research are significant: Every dollar spent yields 10 dollars in return. And it’s more important than ever to invest in innovation and help communities adapt to the climate crisis.

From farmers to urbanites, “every one of us feels it,” Elouafi says. Yields are falling as temperatures rise and droughts become more severe. Producers, particularly small-scale farmers, are struggling with the unpredictability in weather patterns. The fragility is “unprecedented.”

That’s why CGIAR is reaching out to partners and funders, telling them that the pace of progress—and investment—needs to speed up, not slow down.

Despite the challenges, Elouafi still holds onto hope. She believes that if the financing is available, scientific innovation can solve hunger. The research centers have cultivated the proper environment “to create those breakthroughs and the innovation that can help us.”

Read the full article about funding scientific innovation to solve hunger by Elena Seeley at Food Tank.