For U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green, investments in agriculture are something of a no brainer — in part because he has seen what it’s like for the U.S. to operate in countries without a clear strategy on agriculture and food security.

At USAID, we want to move beyond grantmaking, beyond contracting, and embrace collaboration, co-design, and co-financing.

As ambassador to Tanzania, he experienced operating in the absence of Feed the Future, USAID’s flagship agriculture and food security program, he told Devex in an interview on Thursday. It meant that there were no agriculture officers — and as a result, the work of the U.S. government wasn’t relevant to large parts of the country, he said.

Green describes it as having an “irreplaceable importance” in dealing with the challenges affecting communities and economies, particularly in Africa, and is committed to its future and continued USAID investment in agriculture and food security. He began to outline his priorities and next steps for the initiative in a speech at the Borlaug Dialogue in Iowa.

Read the source article on agriculture and food security by Adva Saldinger at Devex International Development