Invest in Rural Economies Today for a Stable World Tomorrow | Opinion [Video]

From Sudan to Yemen, we have always known that war drives hunger and poverty. But the data increasingly show us that the opposite is also true—that investing in food security is often a precursor of peace.

One billion people live in what the United Nations calls “fragile situations”—areas suffering a combustible mix of violence, weak governance, natural disasters, or chronic inequality. By 2030, this number is set to include two-thirds of the world’s poor. So those living in fragile situations are the least equipped to withstand crises and the most likely to be forced to endure them.

Fragility both increases poverty and hunger and entrenches conflict itself—causing a doom loop from which it is almost impossible to escape. Ongoing fighting in South Sudan is reckoned to have slashed GDP …