Prof. Dr. Thomas Reardon of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics of Michigan State University delivering the 'Hans Ruthernberg Memorial Lecture'The Colloquium also commemorated the 200th birthday of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of credit/financial cooperatives. Various speakers shared the development, status, and challenges of cooperatives in their respective countries and how these contribute to food security.
The Food Security Center is one of five (5) centers of excellence of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) program called "EXCEED – Higher Education Excellence in Development Cooperation" funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany. It provides effective and innovative scientific contributions in research, teaching, and policy advice towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals of eradicating poverty and hunger. Every year, the FSC provides funding to SEARCA and its other strategic partners in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to conduct short courses and regional workshops toward this end.
For 2018, FSC supported a short course and 8 regional events organized by SEARCA, while another upcoming regional event next month will also get FSC funding. SEARCA will also be host to the FSC Planning Meeting scheduled in March 2019 and the 2019 FSC Summer School.