The hunger suffered by a huge percentage of the global population is still one of the most pressing issues facing development policy. Many people hope that increasing agricultural production might solve shortages – maybe with the help of fertilizers and pesticides. Hans R. Herren promotes a different approach. He argues that agricultural productivity is high enough already; it is more a question of how and where food is produced. Therefore, in his work he takes an agro-ecological approach and focuses on the importance of smallholder farmers in ending global hunger. His work was honored with the Right Livelihood Award – also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”. In June he was invited to Bonn as part of a workshop organized by the Right Livelihood College and Center for Development Research (ZEF). The workshop addressed the topic “Who will feed the World? Global Agriculture between Population Growth, Business, Sustainability, and Poverty”.

DDD had an opportunity to talk with Hans Herren about global responsibility and the need for structural change in agriculture. ZEF recorded the interview. A transcript follows the interview, lightly edited for better readability.