Food security

Food shortages will worsen in the future. Food production requires a lot of water, and prices are rising as a result of drought, flooding and conflicts. And the world’s population is growing rapidly, leaving more people without access to healthy, nutritious food. This doesn’t just affect people’s health. It can also lead to social unrest, conflict and migration flows.

Dutch companies have a lot of knowledge and experience in the area of food production, including precision agriculture, better seeds and soil fertility. Low- and middle-income countries often lack this expertise. Sharing it also creates opportunities for Dutch companies.

Improving food production

The Netherlands helps low- and middle-income countries improve their food production, for example by supplying local farmers with better seeds that grow well even in hot weather and with little water. In the SeedNL partnership in Ethiopia and Nigeria, for example, large Dutch seed companies work with local partners to improve farmers’ access to good seed.

The Netherlands brings together governments, businesses, educational institutions and civil society organisations so they can improve food security around the world and strengthen local knowledge and skills. This also improves the position of Dutch companies abroad. Dutch representations abroad play a major role in connecting these partners.

Healthy and affordable food

The Netherlands also works to combat malnutrition and ensure that the world’s poorest communities can get enough healthy, affordable food. It does this in collaboration with international organisations such as UNICEF and GAIN. It also works with companies like DSM-Firmenich, which adds essential vitamins and minerals to products such as wheat flour, corn, rice and oil to ensure that people get enough nutrients even when food is scarce.

Clarity on land rights

The Netherlands works to improve regulations on land rights. In many low- and middle-income countries, ownership of agricultural land is often hard to establish. Women in particular have too little access to land. Dutch representations abroad, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and the Land Registry work with countries to help them clarify and register land rights.

Work on major regional programmes

The Netherlands no longer funds separate projects on food security. As much as possible, investments are allocated to large regional programmes by organisations such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank. This enables the Netherlands to achieve more with the same investment.

Importance to the Netherlands

The Netherlands contributes to reducing hunger and improving the agricultural sector in low- and middle-income countries. That benefits their economies and creates opportunities for Dutch companies. When people have enough food, they have less reason to leave their country. For instance because there are fewer conflicts caused by food shortages and because more young people are able to work, which means they are less likely to join criminal or terrorist groups.

This is one way that development aid helps enhance security, regulate migration and support trade in the Netherlands.