(NC) -- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about one in every eight people around the world suffers from chronic undernourishment. In 2011, 165 million children under the age of five had stunted growth, which has severe impacts on long-term health. In the same year it was estimated that two billion people were anemic, including one in two pregnant women and about 40 per cent of children.

At the recent U.K. Hunger Summit, world leaders joined together and committed to fight for food security. The group set several goals they seek to meet by 2020:

• Improve the nutrition of 500 million pregnant women and young children;

• Reduce the number of children under five who are stunted by an additional 20 million;

• Save the lives of at least 1.7 million children by preventing stunting, increasing breastfeeding and better treatment of severe and acute malnutrition;

• Agriculture has an important role to play in a holistic approach to combating food security and nutritional issues.

David Nabarro, the United Nations special representative for food security and nutrition, agrees. “We have to concentrate on the right kind of farming practices that enable people to grow and then access and finally consume the food they need."

Canada has a strong agricultural system that provides its citizens with one of the safest and most affordable food supplies in the world. But Canadian agriculture also helps to feed others.

“We produce enough food here to export to about 150 countries,” says Lorne Hepworth, president of CropLife Canada. “And that's in no small part thanks to innovative tools and technologies Canadian farmers use, like pest control products and plant biotechnology, to produce the greatest possible yields in the most sustainable way.”

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