Unique Tool Commissioned by DuPont and Developed by Economist Intelligence Unit Finds a Captive Audience in Cape Town
Agribusiness leaders, attending the 2014 Agribusiness & Food World Forum in Cape Town, were the beneficiaries of an in-depth review and tutorial on the recently launched Global Food Security Index, developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Commissioned by agricultural leader DuPont, the Global Food Security Index is the first to examine food security comprehensively across the three internationally established dimensions. The Index considers the core issues of affordability, availability and quality across a set of 109 countries, making it a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model for the measurement of food security across both developing and developed countries.
Jointly hosted by the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) and the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), the 2014 Agribusiness & Food World Forum includes students pursuing agribusiness careers as well as hundreds of multi-sector leaders representing over 30 countries. The first of its kind on the African continent, the Forum is framed by three overarching themes – The Talent Factor, Noble Ambition of Feeding the World, and Africa Agribusiness' Age of Opportunity.
The relevancy of the Index is not lost on Forum participants who were able to first hear an overview of the Index, then explore it on their own, facilitated by some of those who helped to develop it for global use. Aligned to the Forum's focus on "feeding the world," a critical component of the Index is to allow those who work in agribusiness and nutrition to look beyond hunger to the underlying factors affecting food insecurity. To increase the ongoing relevance of the study, the Index will employ a quarterly adjustment factor for food price fluctuations to examine the risk countries face throughout the course of the year.
Thad Simons, President of IFAMA, comments: "People feed the world and, as agribusiness leaders, we must understand critical problems in order to create and implement solutions that will ensure we can overcome the food security challenges in Africa and beyond. By highlighting this important tool developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit with support from DuPont, we are conveying both a sense of urgency and know-how."
While the approximately 500 agribusiness leaders participating in the World Forum had the opportunity to avail themselves of this unique user experience, the tool and many tutorials on how to use it are readily available online at no cost.
http://foodsecurity.dupont.com