GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY AND DEFENSE QUARTERLY

THE 1890 UNIVERSITIES CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY AND DEFENSE

Transforming Global Food Security And Defense Through Strategic Partnerships

Since its creation in 2020, the Center of Excellence for Global Food Security and Defense (CEGFSD) has forged concerted efforts to address food security and defense challenges encountered in four target subregional clusters including West/Central Africa, East/Southern Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. In addition to supplying the U.S. with a globally educated workforce, the Center’s initiatives address critical needs in the area of global food security and defense including (1) strengthening agricultural development in developing countries; (2) engaging international researchers in addressing new and emerging animal and plant pests and diseases; (3) engaging in agricultural disaster recovery; and (4) continuing activities carried out by the Center of Excellence for International Engagement and Development (CEIED).

The Center relies heavily on its international and domestic partners to achieve its goals. The CEGFSD’s partners include the nineteen 1890 land-grant universities, the 1890 Universities Foundation and many international public and private sector partners. The CEGFSD is one of six centers of excellence at 1890 universities identified in the U.S. Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. The Center is supported with funds from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and is hosted by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and brings together all nineteen 1890 universities.

What We Do

The Center’s Partners

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Message from the Director Where We Work

The Center’s first global food summit, September 12-14, 2022 in Atlanta, GA

The Center engages U.S. and Guyana’s stakeholders in quinoa value chain research

University of Maryland Eastern Shore conducts emerging plant pathology technologies training in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Youth participate in food security in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Universidad Del Magdalena students in Colombia trained on aquaponics and fish nutrition

Northern Ghana’s livestock farmers trained to raise farm productivity

Dear Stakeholders, Greetings! I trust that 2023 has started well for you. I am delighted to report that the last summer and fall were extremely busy periods for the Center Indeed, many positive accomplishments were realized. For instance, the Center successfully organized its first Global Food Security Summit (GFSS) in Atlanta, GA last September 2022. The summit included informative presentations as well as discussions on future strategic directions for the Center (more details below). On the ground initiatives and projects were also implemented in several countries including: Guyana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, and Colombia. Finally, the Center’s Advisory Council (AC) met in November 2022 and provided great feedback on the future strategic initiatives. Some of these events are featured in this Quarterly edition. I invite you to look out for the next installment of the newsletter in the spring.

With very best wishes for a wonderful 2023.

Moses T. Kairo, Ph.D., DIC