Food Security in the Global South

Agriculture remains a cornerstone of livelihoods across the Global South, supporting up to half the workforce and feeding rapidly growing populations. Today, there is a powerful opportunity to make these jobs more productive, resilient, and rewarding, especially for women and youth. Rather than following outdated models, countries have the chance to leapfrog toward food systems that are more equitable, climate-smart, and locally grounded.

The Food Security in the Global South Hackathon, launching at Oxford in May 2026, brings together researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to shape what comes next. Led by CIMMYT and Oxford Edge, the event challenges interdisciplinary teams to harness advances in AI, mobile platforms, satellite data, and biotech, alongside new ways of organising, financing, and collaborating.

Participants will design bold, scalable solutions, from climate-resilient enterprises to youth-led agribusinesses and inclusive value chains, that strengthen livelihoods and expand economic opportunity. By combining technology with real-world context, the hackathon aims to unlock new models for jobs, ownership, and agency across food systems. The future of agriculture is not just about better crops, it’s about better opportunities for the people behind them.

8-10 May 2026. Apply now.

CIMMYT is one of the world’s leading agricultural research organisations, focused on solving some of the most pressing challenges in global food systems. Its work underpins food security for over 4 billion people. Through applied science and long-standing partnerships, particularly in the Global South, CIMMYT supports more resilient farming systems and helps improve the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. CIMMYT’s seed banks have been crucial in safeguarding the genetic diversity of staple crops, preserving thousands of unique varieties that might otherwise have been lost. This has enabled breeders and researchers to continuously develop more resilient, higher-yielding crops, helping agriculture adapt to climate change, pests, shifting growing conditions, and even war.

Building on this, CIMMYT Inc (part of CIMMYT) focuses on translating that science into practice, both within CIMMYT’s traditional domains and in less conventional and new settings; pursuing further impact from CIMMYT’s capabilities, networks, and datasets. The organisation works closely with partners to take ideas out of the lab and into the field through programmes, collaborations, and new ventures that can scale. In doing so, it helps ensure that CIMMYT’s research leads to tangible outcomes for farmers, food systems, governments, industry, and climate resilience. Particularly in contexts that would otherwise struggle to access, adopt, or deploy such innovations.