Sufficient and adequate food is a human right, yet over 800 million people remain chronically undernourished. The SDC works at various levels to ensure that every person in the world has access to sufficient and adequate food.  

A woman stacking apples in a market with a rich selection of fruits and vegetables
The SDC is committed to diversified production and food systems and access to fruit and vegetables for all. © SDC

The SDC's focus

The SDC aims to achieve sustainable food security for all. That is why it promotes agriculture, markets and food policies that guarantee secure access to adequate food even for the poorest and most disadvantaged sections of the population. In its work, the SDC considers all aspects of the entire food system, 'from farm to fork', which affect food availability and quality.

While direct food aid deliveries play an important role during acute crises, the SDC is increasingly supporting projects that prioritise sustainable and balanced long-term nutrition and functioning local markets. In the event of a crisis, food aid can thus be delivered much more efficiently by focusing on those most in need.

The SDC focuses in particular on the role of women and young people in food production and nutrition. It works to ensure that they have access to resources and education. Young people often seek opportunities in the agriculture or food sector, both in the rural and in urban areas. By providing sound training endeavours in organic farming as well as start-up opportunities for food retailers in towns and cities, the SDC helps to boost economic prospects while also strengthening food systems.

To improve access for all, especially disadvantaged groups, the SDC is active in the following areas:

Right to food

The SDC was actively involved in drafting the UN's Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realisation of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, adopted in 2004, and has since been working to ensure their implementation. A number of countries have subsequently adjusted their policies, legislation and institutions in accordance with the Guidelines. The SDC is also working to ensure that civil society organisations and other stakeholders can monitor compliance with the right to adequate food and tell governments where there is potential for improvement.

Balanced nutrition

The SDC works to ensure that, in addition to staple foods, people also have access to a varied diet. To this end, it supports diversified agricultural production and food systems. Information and awareness-raising work, education, access to safe drinking water, healthcare and proper processing and storage of food also play an important role.

Crop forecasting and insurance

The SDC uses new technologies such as satellite data with radar technology to establish crop forecasting and agricultural micro-insurance. Among other things, crop forecasts facilitate the early detection of food crises, enabling timely intervention to prevent food emergencies and famine. In partnership with the private sector, the SDC develops micro-insurance products for smallholder farmers as well as insurance for countries, against flooding and drought for example. This is important to prevent more people falling even deeper into poverty.

Background

Hunger and malnutrition are major challenges. While the proportion of hungry people in the world fell from 23% to 12% between 1992 and 2015, according to the UN approximately 821 million people were chronically undernourished in 2017.

Sufficient and nutritious food is especially important during the first 1,000 days of an infant's life, otherwise the child can suffer permanent damage. According to the 2018 Global Nutrition Report, over 240 million children under the age of five are affected by chronic or acute malnutrition and more than 2 billion people are suffering from vitamin or mineral deficiency. To counter this problem, food can be enriched with micronutrients. However, a sounder approach would be to promote diversified agricultural production that provides access to a wider range of foods.

The right to adequate food is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) made this right legally binding. In Switzerland, the ICESCR came into force in 1992.

To improve the overall quality of food systems, the SDC draws particularly on innovations developed by Swiss universities and private companies. Such partnerships range from research into sustainable cropping systems and scientific consolidation of practical experience from the food industry through to the development and application of technological solutions. The SDC helps to disseminate these approaches through international policy dialogue, drawing on its own decades of experience, as well as that of Swiss non-governmental development organisations in agricultural projects and from collaborative work with farmers' organisations.

Documents

Current projects

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Opérationnalisation de la filière semencière au Tchad

01.05.2018 - 30.11.2023

Au Tchad, le système de production agricole est rudimentaire et les rendements sont faibles. Le pays est régulièrement confronté à l’insécurité alimentaire. La semence est le principal intrant utilisé par les agriculteurs. C’est pourquoi, la DDC contribue à faciliter l’accès à des semences de qualité et adaptées à leur environnement. Ce programme permet aux exploitations familiales d’améliorer leur production et leur revenu et développe l’auto-emploi des femmes et des jeunes grâce à la multiplication de semences.


Global Land Tool Network Partnership

01.05.2018 - 31.12.2023

Land rights are powerful resources for people to achieve sustainable livelihoods. Switzerland joins others in supporting the Global Land Tool Network (3rd Strategic Cycle) for its advocacy work and efforts to provide practical land tools available for authorities to ensure that all people, including women, youth and vulnerable groups, have access to land and tenure security. Switzerland brings in the experiences from other land related partnerships at national, regional and global levels.


Clean Air China (CAC): Breaking Down the Dome: Sino-Swiss Cooperation on Air Pollution Source Apportionment for Better Air

01.05.2018 - 31.10.2022

The project will support the development of advanced air pollution source apportionment techniques with a Swiss and Chinese joint expert team to enable the design of more effective air pollution control policies beneficial for public health, the global climate and the environment. The techniques and experience of science-based policy making will be piloted in Chinese cities and shared with other developing countries strongly affected by air pollution to accelerate progress towards cleaner air.


Gulf of Mottama Project (GoMP)

15.04.2018 - 31.12.2021

One of the greatest challenges in the current reform process in Myanmar is the governance of natural resources. In the globally significant wetlands of the Gulf of Mottama (GoM), this project strengthens the capacities of government and communities to effectively manage, govern and value its coastal natural resources to sustainably improve livelihoods of people depending on them, while reducing the pressure on natural resource and conserving its unique environment and threatened biodiversity.


Proyecto de Apoyo a una Agricultura Sostenible en Cuba PAAS

01.04.2018 - 31.12.2021

PAAS promueve las bases de un modelo de gestión para el autoabastecimiento local de alimentos, en 22 municipios, que involucra a instituciones, gobiernos, productores y consumidores, y fomenta mejoras en la producción agroecológica, procesamiento, certificación y comercialización a nivel local para 6 cadenas de valor (frutas, miel, hortalizas, oleaginosas, yuca y pollo); a la vez que se genera confianza de los consumidores, mayor acceso a alimentos sanos y nuevos empleos.


RUNRES: The rural-urban nexus: Establishing a nutrient loop to improve city region food systems.

01.04.2018 - 30.04.2023

Implemented by the Institute for sustainable Agroecosystems of ETHZ, RUNRES will seek to improve the resilience and sustainability of food systems in four different rural-urban regions across Africa. It will encourage nutrient & waste recycling by installing and redirecting the byproducts of innovative, ecological, hygienically safe sanitation solutions. The organic matter may then serve as an input for smallholder producers to generate a circular flow of nutrients in agriculture, reinvigorating thus regional food systems.


Blue Lifelines – Safeguarding Wetlands in the Sahel

01.04.2018 - 30.06.2023

The relevance of wetlands for food security and nutrition is underestimated worldwide and in the Sahel in particular. Experiences from the project sites in Mali and Ethiopia and from previous efforts have the potential to change Sahelian and global approaches and to be scaled-up through attracting investments by international financing institutions. The project is implemented by Wetlands International, Caritas Switzerland and a Swiss technology company hydrosolutions Ltd.


Sustainable water management for food security and nutrition in agriculture and food systems

01.04.2018 - 31.03.2027

Agriculture accounts globally for 70% freshwater use. Inefficient water use, water pollution, climate change and increasing global water demand puts agriculture under pressure, as well for smallholders. SDC can build on successful experiences in this domain and will support projects in Africa in ecologically sustainable water management in smallholder agriculture and food systems, improve smallholders’ economic and social situation and increase the resilience of their livelihoods.


Programme d'Appui à la Promotion de l'Entreprenariat Agricole (PAPEA)

01.03.2018 - 31.05.2023

Au Burkina Faso, les entreprises agricoles sont peu développées et à prédominance informelles et individuelles. Les contraintes multiples, dont le faible accès aux services non financiers et financiers, réduisent leur productivité et créent moins de valeur ajoutée. S’appuyant sur l’expertise suisse en matière d’inclusion financière, la DDC soutiendra le secteur privé agricole (micro et petites entreprises) afin de créer des emplois décents pour les jeunes et des femmes et ainsi contribuer à réduire la pauvreté.


Entrepreneuriats Stratégiques Pour des Opportunités d’Investissements Renforcés (ESPOIR)

01.03.2018 - 30.06.2022

Ce programme contribue à l’émergence des microentreprises privées béninoises de jeunes et des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises (PME) agroalimentaires pour assurer une croissance économique durable, une augmentation d’emplois et de revenus, et une alimentation nutritive (sécurité alimentaire). Il porte l’espoir de toute une génération d’entrepreneurs, et permet de répondre en partie au défi démographique par la création d’emplois.


PIAL – “Proyecto para fortalecer un Sistema de Innovación Agropecuaria para el Desarrollo Local”

01.02.2018 - 31.07.2022

PIAL fomenta capacidades locales para gestionar los problemas de las cadenas agro-alimentarias en 75 municipios, contribuyendo al incremento de la disponibilidad de alimentos. Así, se institucionaliza y extiende en el país un Sistema de Innovación Agropecuaria Local (SIAL), con espacios y mecanismos para la participación de agricultores, autoridades y otros actores locales en la solución de estos problemas. 


GPFS Innovation Platforms

01.02.2018 - 31.12.2021

Since an improved participation of all agricultural stakeholders in research, innovation and development discussions is crucial for finding solutions to feed 9 Billion people by 2050, SDC supports networks which emphasize dynamic relationships between a broad range of social actors (e.g. farmers, scientists, private sector, civil society etc.) to facilitate exchange of information and experience among agricultural stakeholders.

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