Secretary Clinton and Her Food Security Legacy

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton vacated her post at the State Department last week. She may be gone, but her legacy will not be forgotten. The development community will remember her unwavering commitment to raising the profile of hunger and poverty in the developing world as well as in the United States.

Food and nutrition security played a starring role in the foreign policy agenda of the Obama Administration during Clinton’s tenure. She has referred to chronic hunger as one of “the most urgent threats facing our world,” and suggested sustainable agriculture as a remedy. “…On this we all agree – the need to drastically decrease hunger and poverty worldwide. And strengthening global agriculture is a powerful way to do that,” said Clinton in a May 2012 speech in Washington, DC.

Clinton was also a powerful advocate for women in agriculture, drawing attention to the inequalities faced by women throughout the world. She gave a voice to the often unheard women farmers, explaining that if the social, cultural, and financial barriers were torn down and if women had the same access to seeds, credit, and land as men, farm yields could increase by 20 to 30 percent, ultimately reducing the number of hungry people in the world by up to 150 million. “We can’t just hope that women get the support they need as a side effect of our work. We have to push for it. And it’s not optional. It’s not marginal. It’s not a luxury. It’s not expendable. It happens to be essential, or we will never reach our goals,” insisted Clinton.

Secretary Clinton paid a visit to IFPRI’s offices in August of 2011, addressing the food security challenges in the Horn of Africa. She voiced a steadfast commitment to prevention, explaining, “Though food shortages may be triggered by drought, they are not caused by drought, but rather by weak or nonexistent agricultural systems that fail to produce enough food or market opportunities in good times and break down completely in bad times.” She continued, “These are things we can shape and strengthen. So that means this is a problem we can solve if we have the will and we put to work the expertise that organizations like IFPRI possess.”

Secretary Clinton set the bar high in her approach to global food and nutrition security; now, the expectation to keep the bar there remains high, too.