Joachim von Braun
Director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.
M.S. Swaminathan
An agricultural scientist known as ‘The Father of the Green Revolution’ in India.
Hans Eenhoorn
Hans Eenhoorn (Netherlands) studied Economics and Business-Administration in the Netherlands and in the USA. In 1969 he joined Unilever where he worked for 32 years, ultimately as the senior-vice president in Unilever’s Foods division. He also chaired a working party that developed Unilever’s first environmental sustainability strategy.
In 2002 Hans was invited to join the United Nations Taskforce on Hunger, which task it was to deliver action plans to achieve the Millennium Goal of halving hunger by 2015. Two years later he initiated the ’home grown’ school feeding programme in Ghana, which led to the foundation of SIGN in 2006. Hans is now a board member of this foundation. Furthermore, he is member of the international board of SOS Childrens Villages International. In 2007 he was appointed Associate Professor for ’Food security and Entrepreneurship’ at Wageningen University.
Hans R. Herren
President of the Millennium Institute in Washington.
Hans Eenhoorn
Associate professor Food Security and Entrepreneurship at Wageningen University and Research Centre and member of the UN Taskforce on Hunger
Hans Eenhoorn tells us that food competes with fuels, but also with feed.
Too many food crops are being converted to meat and milk for the rich. Because of upcoming countries in Asia that will only increase.
To solve the current problems, we must carry out large programs to make small-scale agriculture more productive and to realize a higher yield per hectare. Besides that we also need improved governmental support. There’s a lot of talking, but a lack of action and decisiveness.
To me it is morally unacceptable that one billion people are dying, while at the same time one billion people eat so much that they get ill.
I think biotechnology can contribute to these issues. I specifically see applications for farm land that is now not - or much less - suitable for the production of food crops. That is additionally important now because of climate change.