News

April 30, 2012

The Alliance for Global Food Security urges the Senate to revise several provisions in the 2012 Farm Bill that severely limit the use of food aid to promote development and to help crisis-prone communities become food secure and less reliant on emergency aid.

On April 26th, the 2012 Farm Bill was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee and is now heading to the full Senate for consideration. Among other things, it reauthorizes several food assistance programs that are vital for curbing global hunger and building security in areas plagued by chronic food shortfalls – Food for Peace, Food for Progress, McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition, and the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.

Click here to read more.

The Hagstrom Report
Friday, April 13, 2012 | Volume 2, Number 67

The Obama administration is working on a follow-up on the 2009 L’Aquila commitments on global food security to be presented to the G-8 leaders at their Camp David meeting in May.

Meanwhile, Action Aid and other global anti-poverty groups are putting pressure on the administration to make the commitments and their reporting requirements as strong as possible.

President Obama has led efforts to address global hunger issues ranging from the recent food crisis to acute hunger and malnutrition,” Tjada McKenna, deputy coordinator for development at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future program said in an email to The Hagstrom Report.

 “The president’s leadership was central to the G-8’s historic L’Aquila commitments on food security,” McKenna said. “We expect the G-8 will work together at Camp David to build upon and strengthen that commitment during the African Session, by prioritizing existing country-led efforts and the role of the private sector.

 “The United States also continues to invest in targeted programs focused on building long-term food security through the president’s Feed the Future initiative. These investments are intended to move people out of poverty through sustainable agriculture so that we ultimately reduce the need for aid over time.”

 The Obama administration has not released details of the proposal, but it is believed that the proposal will call for the commitments from all G-8 countries within the next three years.

 ActionAid USA said at a news conference in Lafayette Park on April 6 that Obama would be a “hunger hero” if he convinces the other G-8 leaders to provide the political will and resources to end hunger for 50 million people. But a diplomat from one of the other G-8 countries said U.S. leaders do not need to be pushed toward that goal, because administration officials that is already the plan.

 The G-8 countries made a commitment to global food security at a time of high food prices in 2009, and the larger G-20 group joined those commitments for a total of $22 billion. Those pledges consisted of a combination of food aid and help for small farmers, mostly in Africa. The L’Aquila accord expires at the end of May, and global activists fear that the G-8 will move on to other issues if no new commitment is made.

 Katie Campbell, a senior analyst at ActionAID USA, said at the news conference that she had recently returned from Rwanda and found that the aid to small farmers is improving their productivity.

 Ellen Levinson of the Alliance for Global Food Security, which represents American groups involved in food aid and development, said it is particularly important that Obama get the commitments of other countries.

 The president’s commitment to the U.S. global food security program seems strong, Levinson noted, because he asked for about $1 billion for Feed the Future in his fiscal year 2013 budget.

 “He needs to focus on the G-8,” Levinson said. She added, however, that the U.S. global food security program is not assured over the long run because there has been no authorizing legislation making it a permanent program at USAID.

 Both the commitments from the G-8 leaders and the U.S. commitment to a long-term program are important, Levinson said, because “sustainable change” in the agriculture policies in the developing countries cannot be achieved through short-term programs.

Ellen Levinson, Executive Director, AGFS
March 26, 2012

Because food aid programs help millions of people overcome the cycle of hunger and malnutrition and are a critical part of our nation’s foreign security policies, the Alliance for Global Food Security urged the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to provide adequate funding for international food aid programs.  Read AGFS Letter to Chairman Kingston and AGFS Letter to Chairman Kohl.

The Hill

March 7, 2011

By Ellen Levinson, executive director, Alliance for Global Food Security

Improvements made to international food aid programs in the 2008 Farm Bill have borne fruit. Delivery times for U.S. commodities can be as short as two weeks, food products can be bought overseas when necessary and there is greater emphasis on developmental programs that show results. While only a small part of the Farm Bill, food assistance is a critical component of our nation’s global development and national security strategies, reaching 50 million people a year. Reauthorization is a must.

Emerging economies and growing populations are placing greater demand on food supplies. By 2050, world population is expected to reach 9 billion and food production will have to increase by 50-70 percent to keep pace.

Tackling the global food problem requires better and more sustainable agricultural systems. The good news is that experts, private sectors and governments across the globe are moving in that direction. The bad news is that it will take time to improve productivity and food systems in food-deficit, developing countries. Today, 925 million people have too little to eat and 12,000,000 metric tons of food would be required to close the food gap in the 70 neediest countries. Thus, U.S. food assistance continues to be a critical component of America’s global food security arsenal.

Smart use of food aid is also important. The Food for Peace Title II Program (“Title II”) is our nation’s largest food aid program, donating U.S. commodities through programs conducted by private voluntary organizations, cooperatives and intergovernmental organizations. In the years leading up to the 2008 Farm Bill, Title II was increasingly used for short-term emergency programs, which would often be renewed year after year. As a consequence, developmental programs were scaled back or closed in countries where food crises are a common occurrence, impeding efforts to use food aid more effectively to build local capacity and decrease reliance on emergency assistance.

A better balance was struck in the 2008 Farm Bill. Most Title II funds continue to be used for emergencies. However, Congress enacted the “development safebox,” allocating a portion of Title II funds each year for programs that combine food aid with development projects in areas where hunger is a persistent problem. Results include improved agricultural productivity and incomes for small farmers, better management of natural resources, decreased child malnutrition, and less reliance on emergency food aid, ultimately saving the American taxpayer money. A good example is Ethiopia, where all of those changes were seen and, as a result, the need for emergency food aid was cut in half during the 2011 drought.

Similarly, a stronger results-based management system was established for the Food for Progress Program. It uses public-private partnerships and value chains to improve agricultural systems in developing countries that are implementing market-oriented policies. Examples include the many farmer associations and cooperatives that have been established and continue to grow – increasing business activity and incomes and serving as development models. In Mozambique alone, 9,000 smallholder farmers participated in a dairy development program that now benefits over 300,000 people.

Also thanks to changes in the last Farm Bill, pre-positioning of U.S. commodities in overseas warehouses has decreased delivery times for emergency food aid significantly. Another way to shorten delivery time is the USAID “Emergency Food Security Program,” which makes $300 million available each year to buy commodities overseas, closer to where the food will be distributed.

Because of quality, aggregation and transportation issues, local or regional purchase does not necessarily mean the commodities are bought from small farmers or that costs are lower than using U.S. commodities, as some assume. Another option is to give people cash and food vouchers during disasters so they can buy food in local markets.

Concerns have been raised about the potential for food aid to interfere with local production, marketing and commercial imports. Those potential problems are well known and must be considered in distribution, monetization and local or regional purchase programs. The law therefore requires controlling risks by analyzing the markets in recipient countries, identifying the commodities that are most appropriate and needed and providing the food aid in ways that are least likely to have disincentive or market distorting effects.

One thing that would help U.S. food aid programs is more complete reporting of program methodologies and results. These programs have a record of success and are critical for America’s global engagement. The story needs to get out.

James P. McGovern (MA)
5-Minute Special Order
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

M. Speaker, once again, the world is standing by, silent and passive, while the Government of Sudan wages war on its own people.

 We have been here before, M. Speaker, when hundreds of thousands of people perished in Darfur before the international community finally woke up and took action to try and protect innocent civilians from their own government’s brutality. 

 The humanitarian crisis continues in Darfur.  There is no peace, and villagers, refugees and humanitarian personnel still live and work under constant peril of attack.  President Bashir has expelled many humanitarian workers from Darfur – and even today threatens to shut down their life-saving operations.

 Last May we witnessed the ruthless ethnic cleansing of Abyei by the Sudanese military.  More than 100,000 people of the Dinka indigenous population were forcibly displaced.  They fled to South Sudan, seeking safe haven, where they remain today, in very poor conditions.

 When Sudanese President Bashir saw that the world was indifferent to this brutal assault, he began military operations in June against insurgents in South Kordofan and more generally against the Nuba people.

 And still the world stood silent.

 So, in September, Khartoum launched attacks on another border region. This time, the state of Blue Nile was under siege, with attacks by the Sudanese Army and bombings of civilians.  Thousands fled to the neighboring countries of Ethiopia and South Sudan for safety, joining the desperate refugees from South Kordofan.

 And so Sudan has undertaken a bloodbath against its own people in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.  House-to-house arrests and killings.  Rape. The merciless bombings of civilians.

 For nearly eight months, Khartoum has blocked all humanitarian aid to South Kordofan and Blue Nile.  And it has not only continued to bomb civilians in those states, it has crossed the border and bombed refugee camps and towns inside South Sudan where tens of thousands had hoped to find food and shelter.

 Here are photos of some of the people in refugee camps in south Sudan.  Saleh Kora [POINT TO:  WOMAN IN YELLOW & ORANGE] is from the Angolo tribe in South Kordofan. The government dropped bombs on her fields when she was trying to plant.  And then the government dropped six bombs on her village. She grabbed her children and hid in a nearby ditch. 

 After the bombing stopped, Sudanese soldiers moved into the village and burned several homes.  When they began shooting people, Saleh ran and hid with her children. The soldiers didn’t care if you were an unarmed civilian, a woman or a child.  She fled with her children across the border in January to the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan.

 This woman and her little girl are from the Nuba Mountains.  She is married to a man who fled the nightmare of Darfur in 2005.  Both were suffering from malnutrition when they arrived at the refugee camps.

 The people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile are being subjected to bombing, murder, rape, scorched earth and starvation.  This should come as no surprise when Ahmed Haroun, the Sudanese official wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur, is now the governor of South Kordofan.

 We are fast approaching the month of March, the point at which the Famine Early Warning Systems Network – or  FEWS Net – has predicted that South Kordofan and Blue Nile will reach emergency levels of food insecurity.  This is just one level short of all-out famine.

 And yet Khartoum still denies food and medical relief to the suffering people of these regions.

 Last week, the U.N. Security Council called on the Sudanese government and the armed rebels to allow unhindered access for humanitarian aid and for both sides to return to talks and cease hostilities.  President Bashir said “no.”

 The United States and the international community – including China, Russia and others – must increase the pressure on Sudan to allow the delivery of aid to the suffering people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile and to reach agreement on a ceasefire.

 The safety and security of the Sudanese people – whether in Darfur, Abyei, South Kordofan, Blue Nile or elsewhere – must be our first priority.

 We’ve been silent too long.

  {Insert for the Congressional Record:  “In Sudan, Seeing Echoes of Darfur,” by Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, February 15, 2012}

September 8, 2011

Kent R. Hill, Sr. Vice President of International Programs, World Vision U.S., testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights, regarding the Drought and Famine in the Horn of Africa.  Click here to read full testimony.

World Food Situation
Release date: 08/09/2011

The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 231 points in August 2011, nearly unchanged from July and 26 percent higher than in August 2010. The FFPI hit its all time high of 238 points in February.  Firmer cereal prices in August were largely offset by declines in international prices of most other commodities included in the Index, the oils and dairy in particular.  Click here to read more.

U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesperson
September 8, 2011

More than 12.7 million people—primarily in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia—are in need of emergency assistance in the Horn of Africa. The United States is deeply concerned by the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa, the famine that is occurring in parts of Somalia, the ongoing conflict within Somalia, and the escalating refugee crisis across the region. A large-scale international response is underway to prevent the further decline of an already dire situation, but there will be no quick fix. The U.S. is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the region, now providing over $600 million in life-saving humanitarian assistance to those in need. This funding supports humanitarian assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and other drought affected populations. Because emergency assistance will not solve the underlying problems in the region, the U.S. Government is also working on long-term responses, such as through the President’s Feed the Future initiative.

Humanitarian Assistance to Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, and other Drought Affected Populations: Reports from inside Somalia indicate the situation is growing increasingly desperate. The over $600 million the U.S. Government is providing includes protection and assistance for refugees in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti as well as funding for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) recent Emergency Appeal for Somali refugees as well as other humanitarian partners working inside and outside Somalia. Our diplomacy and our dollars leverage support from other donors for international protection and assistance efforts. These efforts are critical to saving lives and maintaining access to safe asylum in Somalia’s neighboring countries, even as they themselves struggle with a drought that has been described as the worst in 60 years.

U.S. assistance also supports health, nutrition, agriculture and food security, economic recovery and market systems, humanitarian coordination and information management, and water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. The U.S. Government funds nutrition programs that treat malnutrition and support community-based education. The U.S. is working to address the immediate lifesaving needs of affected populations while also building communities’ resiliency to future shocks.

Food Security: Part of our funding will benefit those in need of food assistance in Ethiopia and Kenya. Our assistance will allow World Food Program (WFP) to expand geographic coverage and scale up feeding programs in drought-affected areas in Ethiopia and Kenya. In total, the United States is providing over $400 million in humanitarian food aid to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia this fiscal year.

The U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), which the United States supports, have maintained a strong presence in the region for decades, enabling the humanitarian community to identify conditions based on an extensive analysis of historical and current rainfall, cropping patterns, livestock health, market prices and malnutrition rates. FEWS NET’s early warning of the crisis in the Horn of Africa has allowed the United States to alert other donors and to make sizeable, early food aid contributions and scale up emergency programs to meet the increasing needs in the region.

Feed the Future: President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative—which helps address the root causes of hunger and undernutrition—is critical at this time. Increasing the resiliency and further developing the capacity of pastoralists to engage in a commercially viable livestock trade is crucial to breaking the disaster cycle across the Horn. By working with other donors and governments in the region, Feed the Future will increase overall agricultural production as well as increase the resiliency of pastoralists who suffer most acutely from the effects of the drought.

For example, Ethiopia’s Feed the Future program emphasizes improving early warning systems, disaster risk management, and livelihoods in pastoralist and agriculture areas. Feed the Future will invest in Ethiopia’s Pastoralist Livelihoods Initiative. This program has increased the value and sales of livestock by improving livestock health services, institutionalizing early warning and response, and improving land and water management. At the regional level, East Africa’s Livestock Trade program focuses on the trade of live animals, increasing the quality and availability of trade information, improving animal health, and building capacity for private sector trade groups.

Total Current U.S. Government Funding for Humanitarian Assistance to Horn of Africa

By Hannah Gregory / MissionNewswire

 Aug. 19, 2011

An already difficult situation has become a desperate one in the Horn of Africa where aid agencies like Salesian Missions were already hard at work helping the poor—long before the latest drought and famine that have brought the world’s attention to the region once again.

“Entire communities have nothing to eat and people, many of them children, are dying,” explained Salesian missionaries serving in the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. More than 20,000 Somali refugees sought refuge at the camp after fleeing the political instability, hunger and overcrowding of other camps. This brings the total refugees at Kakuma to more than 50,000 with an estimated 1,000 additional Somali refugees arriving daily.

In refugee camps served by Salesians in the area, more than 80,000 people are in need of assistance, according to Brother Cesare Bullo, executive director of the Salesian Planning and Development Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Authorities fear that this crisis could become worse than the famine of 1984-85 when more than one million people died. In response, the Salesians have organized an international fundraising initiative aimed to raise at least $850,000 to provide necessary aid for 6 months.

Projects to address the urgent needs of the drought and famine victims include the repair and maintenance of existing wells, drilling of new wells, water distribution and emergency food aid.

The repair and maintenance of four wells will provide a long-term water supply for 8,000 people. In additional, four new wells will be constructed. In total, it is estimated that at least 14,000 people will benefit from these new water sources.

“We have located four water points that need to be rehabilitated and strengthened through the purchase of new pumps and additional excavations to find more water,” says Br. Bullo. “The new wells will be built in four areas for local communities very much in need of water at the moment. The wells need to be capable of providing a sufficient quantity of water during the droughts.”

The Salesians also have a plan in the works to provide a water tracking service for water distribution in the area around Jijiga, to aid the pastoralist communities. The goal is to distribute 10-12,000 liters of water twice daily.

With 1,000 new refugees arriving daily in Ethiopia from Somalia, Br. Bullo says it takes three to four days for them to register with UNHCR and enter the camp to receive aid.

“They arrive after having walked more than 600 kilometers,” says Br. Bullo, emphasizing the urgent nature of the refugees’ needs.

“We are working to distribute food outside the refugee camps while they are waiting to be registered,” he says, referring to the area of Dolo Ado in the Southern part of Somalia. “We estimate we can provide 2,000 daily rations which means 1,000 people will benefit from the daily distribution for at least three or four days before entering the camps.”

Br. Bullo estimates they will help at least 10,000 people outside the camps in the first month.

 “So far, we have raised about a third of the needed funds and are hopeful that the remaining amount will follow as caring friends and donors learn of the crisis,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, NY.

The Salesians specialize in assessing specific needs and identifying best possible emergency interventions to aid as many people as possible. Since they are already established in the communities working to help those in need, they are in a unique position to assess situations and respond.

For example, in Ethiopia the Salesians operate in 14 towns, providing schools, feeding programs, housing for orphans, and HIV/AIDS intervention programs. In Kenya, the Salesians bring classrooms to refugee camps, protect youth from disease, teach agriculture skills, feed hungry children and families, and much more.

China Daily

August 20, 2011

BEIJING – China will start shipments of food aid to northeast African countries by the end of this month to ease famine caused by severe drought in the region, an official from the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.

The shipments from Tianjin port will be scheduled on a weekly basis and last for a month, said Yu Yingfu, deputy director general of the Department of Aid to Foreign Countries at the ministry.

“Measures have been taken to ensure that the food aid could be transferred to Africa at the earliest possible time and we will continue following the situation in the drought-stricken areas and be ready for further aid,” Yu said.

The worst drought in 60 years has struck northeast Africa in recent months. Rain in some countries was less than 5 percent of normal precipitation. Food production has seriously dropped, causing widespread famine.

More than 12.4 million people in countries such as Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti are affected, according to the United Nations, and tens of thousands of people have already died.

On July 27, the Chinese government announced emergency food aid of 90 million yuan ($14 million).

On Monday, Premier Wen Jiabao declared additional aid of 353 million yuan to northeast African countries while meeting with visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

The World Food Program, the food aid branch of the UN, will use $16 million in cash from China’s aid to buy and distribute food in Somalia, where food transportation from China is very difficult because of the country’s geological features, he said.

The remaining amount includes 150 million yuan to Ethiopia, 130 million yuan to Kenya and 60 million yuan to Djibouti. The money will be mainly used to buy food such as rice, wheat, flour and oil in China’s market. Such foods are in urgent need in the famine-hit area, Yu said.

In recent years the Chinese government has stepped up efforts to cooperate with African countries in developing agricultural technologies.

From 2007 to 2009, China sent 104 senior agricultural experts to 33 countries across the continent to help them make agricultural development plans while providing consulting and training.

So far, China has built more than 40 agricultural cooperative projects in more than 30 African countries, trying to help them increase food production.

“This is the world’s largest-scale agricultural cooperation between one government and the African countries,” said Yang Lihua, director of the Center of Southern African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

“China has made an important contribution in developing African countries’ agricultural industry,” she added.

However, China’s increasingly close ties with the continent have been criticized by some countries as “new colonization”. Some even blamed China’s “large-scale land purchases” as leading to drought and famine.

“It is absurd for some countries to try and blame China for the famine in the Horn of Africa,” Lu Shaye, director-general of the Department of African Affairs at Chinese Foreign Ministry, wrote in a comment in China Daily.

“China focuses on improving African countries’ food production capacity in its cooperation with Africa. China has not taken one single grain from Africa,” he said in the comment.

China will continue cooperating with Africa, Lu added.

July 25, 2011

With 12 million lives in danger due to the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, G20 Ministers met on July 25, 2011, and declared: “This crisis must be immediately contained and reversed by bringing emergency food assistance and support to the productive sector, as we work to rebuild livelihoods and improve resilience and agricultural production.” Read full statement here.

The East African
July 11, 2011

In 1984, a Kenyan photographer and cameraman named Mohamed Amin shocked the world into action with his images of famine victims in Ethiopia.

Today, 15 years after he was tragically killed in the crash of a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines flight off the Comoros Islands, famine once again stalks the Horn of Africa, threatening the lives of 10 million people in what the USAid-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) describes as one of the world’s most severe food security emergencies.

Perhaps no country in the region is as badly affected as Somalia. The Somalia Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) estimates that 2.85 million people — a third of the population — are now in humanitarian crisis and in need of urgent assistance, an increase of 42.5 per cent over the figure in December 2010. “We are no longer on the verge of a humanitarian disaster; we are in the middle of it now,” Isaq Ahmed, the chairman of the Mubarak Relief and Development Organisation, a local NGO working in the south of the country, told IRIN on June 28. “It is happening and no one is helping.”

Indeed, the numbers coming out of Somalia paint a terrible picture of a population caught in a perfect storm of calamities: A two-decade long brutal conflict that has seen the country play host to one of the largest displaced populations in the world; the worst drought in a generation has precipitated a sharp decline in food production; rising food prices mean that even the little available is out of reach of the impoverished population; and funding shortfalls for relief agencies resulting from a faltering global economy.

The prevalence of acute malnutrition among children under five years is an objective crisis indicator, reflecting the wider situation of emergency affected populations, including their food security, livelihoods, public health and social environment, say Helen Young and Susanne Jaspars in their paper The Meaning and Measurement of Acute Malnutrition in Emergencies: A Primer For Decision-makers.

According to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 75 per cent of the estimated 241,000 malnourished children in Somalia reside in the volatile southern regions where the country’s internationally recognised Transitional Federal Government is battling a brutal insurgency in the latest iteration of the country’s 20-year civil war. In some of these areas, 1 in 3 children is malnourished, more than double the emergency threshold of 15 per cent.

In August 2010, the national level of acute malnutrition was 15.2 per cent with 16.6 per cent in the south. Five months later the situation had deteriorated in most parts of the country and a national rate of 16 per cent was reported, with 25 per cent in the south. Assessments conducted in April 2011 confirmed a sustained crisis. Complicating the situation in the south even further, Al Qaeda-linked extremist insurgents continue to bar international humanitarian agencies from access to the needy populations, accusing them of promulgating Christianity and Western ideology.

The conflict has also created huge numbers of internally displaced persons. Since January, the UN estimates the drought has added a further 55,000. These are most often the poorest of the poor and it is no coincidence, therefore, that they are suffering disproportionately. While a third of the general population is in crisis, the ratio among IDPs is twice that. In February, 910,000, or 62 per cent of the country’s 146,000 IDPs, were identified by FSNAU as being in crisis. The situation is now driving more people to flee the country altogether, many of them having to walk for up to a month to reach refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.

At the Daadab refugee camp in Kenya, the largest in the world, about 1,300 Somalis are arriving every day, nearly two-thirds of them children. “Nearly every child or parent we have spoken to says they are not just fleeing fighting in Somalia — the drought and food crisis are equally perilous to them now,” Catherine Fitzgibbon, Save the Children’s Kenya programme director, told the BBC. “Children are arriving in Dadaab barefoot, after walking six weeks. They’re covered in sores and wounds, they’re acutely malnourished, they’re completely dehydrated and that is preferable to the conditions they are living in in south-central Somalia… A mother arrived at one of our feeding centres saying she’d actually left her children behind in the village because she couldn’t watch them die. She had walked away and left her six children in a house. Two of them ended up dying and we managed to reach four others,” added Sonia Zambakides, the organisation’s emergency manager for Somalia

For those left behind, relief, when it has come, has often been a case of too little too late. Two consecutive seasons of poor rain have resulted in one of the driest years since 1950/51 and there is no likelihood of improvement until 2012, says UN-OCHA. Last year, the October to December deyr short rains were below normal due to the La Niña weather phenomenon. As a result, this year’s January/February crop harvests in the agro-pastoral and riverine areas of southern Somalia, where people predominantly rely on rainfall for subsistence farming, were only a fifth of the average according to the Food Security & Nutrition Working Group. In these regions, the number of people in crisis had by February this year increased by almost 70 per cent to 440,000. Due to disproportionate access to farming inputs, female-headed households have suffered most.

Further, while the long rainy season (gu’) normally starts in early April, this year it was late and poorly distributed across much of the country. In and around Mogadishu, it only started raining in the second week of May. Throughout April, the rainfall performance remained significantly below normal, according to the African Development Trust.

Humanitarian relief efforts have fared little better. In December 2010, the UN launched the 2011 Consolidated Appeal for Somalia, asking for nearly $530 million to help it cater for approximately 2 million people. Though this represented an 11 per cent decrease from the 2010 mid-year funding request, only half the funds have so far been received. The funding shortage is biting hard. “We began having to cut ration sizes from February, to try to eke out what food we did have coming through the system,” says World Food Programme spokesman Peter Smerdon. “In May, we had only about 30 per cent of the food we need to feed the one million people that we were expecting to feed this time of the year. In fact, we’re feeding 66 per cent of the one million people we should be feeding, but the amount of food being given out is only 33 per cent of what we should be giving out.”

In the wake of the drought, as local food production has plummeted, food prices, propelled by rising fuel costs, have skyrocketed. Since December 2010, the average daily cost of food for Somali families has increased between 21 and 27 per cent, with areas in the south reporting increases of 37 per cent, according to the USAid. Prices of local staples are showing significant increases. Concern Worldwide, an international humanitarian agency working in Somalia, says the cost of cereals has increased by up to 135 per cent since last year. Fews Net estimates that red sorghum prices have risen by up to 240 per cent over the same period. In general, current maize prices are around their peak levels of mid-2008 during the global food price crisis, while those of red sorghum have surpassed them.

According to the FAO, only 40-50 per cent of Somalia’s per capita cereal needs are met locally and approximately 500,000 tonnes of grains must be commercially imported to support the population. The Food Security & Nutrition Working Group says prices of imported cereals are stabilising but remain above the 5-year average in most markets, partly due to high fuel prices. The cost of imported rice, stable in the last quarter of 2010, rose during the first months of 2011 and is currently up to 30 per cent higher than the previous year. This is despite a steady drop of about 3 per cent in the global price of rice since January this year.

The combination of extremely high food prices and plummeting livestock prices has substantially eroded the purchasing power of Somalia’s pastoral communities. Pastoralists depend on livestock for all their basic needs and animal sales are often used to buy grain. However, in Juba region for example, between May 2010 and May 2011, the value of one cow collapsed from 430 kg to 161 kg of maize. FSNAU notes that increased camel exports at the Bossaso port — 7 per cent of total livestock between January and May compared with 2 per cent over the same period last year — are additional indicators of stress selling in pastoral areas. A statement issued by Oxfam at the beginning of July concludes, “Livelihoods have already been decimated, but there is now also a real risk of large-scale loss of life.”

Though mass deaths on the scale of the Ethiopian famine are yet to be reported, worrying signs of localised starvation are emerging, especially insurgent-controlled areas where it is impossible to send aid.

Further, pressure must be brought to bear on the insurgents and their supporters to allow for the immediate distribution of emergency supplies to areas under their control, where the situation is particularly worrying. In this regard, Amisom, whose mandate covers the facilitation of humanitarian relief, must be equipped to do so. Indeed, all parties, from the donor community to the local authorities in Somalia, must lift existing restrictions on the delivery of aid to allow the humanitarian community to effectively address the crisis.

Nearly three decades ago, Mohammed Amin showed the world the face of a calamity, and the world responded. Action now to avert a similar tragedy would be the best tribute the global community could pay to his memory.

USDA Blog

June 30, 2011

The USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have once again joined forces to collaborate with individuals and organizations that feed hungry people, promote sustainable development and provide technical assistance around the world.  This is the thirteenth year of the International Food Aid and Development Conference, and I was proud to deliver keynote remarks here in Kansas City, Mo. Nearly 600 people from more than 25 countries discussed what has worked, what has not, and what we can do in the future to improve our food assistance and program delivery.

The U.S. government’s international food assistance programs will benefit 5.2 million people in the developing world this year. The challenges of global food security are enormous — nearly one billion people are malnourished, and this number will likely grow as the world population continues to rise. Meanwhile, the United States, like many other nations, is facing serious budget pressures. In addition, commodity prices and demand continue to rise, squeezing food assistance dollars further.

In Kansas City, I shared the stage with many distinguished speakers, among them Bangladesh’s and Mozambique’s Ambassadors to the United States; USAID’s Administrator Raj Shah; and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration Deputy Administrator. In addition, we recognized the President of Catholic Relief Services Ken Hackett for his 40-year contribution to alleviating global poverty and hunger.

Over the past two days, we discussed how we can take our programs and our partnerships to the next level—how we can better coordinate and target our efforts with limited resources, embrace innovative approaches to improve the quality and nutritional content of U.S. food aid products, reduce post-harvest losses, manage the effect of food and transportation prices on food assistance, enhance our global food security efforts through public-private partnerships, and increase the long-term sustainability of our programs.

While we acknowledge the challenges we face, this conference serves as a means to celebrate our successes and provide insight into new and innovative ways that we can work smarter, while providing food assistance to some of the world’s poorest people. I am proud of the work we are doing together and individually to answer the call of those in need and share our bounty with those less fortunate.

USDA Blog

June 10, 2011

It was quite an active week as I represented the USDA at the 10th annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum.  While in Zambia, I had the opportunity to see firsthand a USDA-funded food assistance program in action.  This included a Local and Regional Procurement (LRP) Pilot Project that is providing monthly food baskets to households impacted by HIV/AIDS.  LRP is designed to use local and regional purchasing to help meet urgent food needs in developing countries and in areas faced with food crises and disasters.

The Zambia Local and Regional Procurement Program (ZLRP) is a yearlong project providing nutritional food to nearly 10,000 rural households that care for orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia’s Chongwe, Chibombo and Mumbwa districts. Land O’Lakes is working with World Vision to implement the project with USDA funding. The food these households receive allows them to leave their crops in the ground until they are fully ready to harvest, and thus are more nutritious.  This in turn enables the families more time and energy to pursue other activities to improve their livelihoods and quality of life.

Foreign Agricultural Service Acting Administrator Suzanne Heinen (right) joins Land O’Lakes representative She Mayo (left) as they meet with local farmers at a market in Kafululu, Zambia on June 7. At this market, Land O’Lakes monitors food prices to ensure commodity procurements and distributions do not have a disruptive impact on the market. USDA has funded a Local and Regional Procurement (LRP) Pilot Project designed to use local and regional purchasing to help improve the nutrition and quality of life of Zambian households impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Foreign Agricultural Service Acting Administrator Suzanne Heinen (right) joins Land O’Lakes representative She Mayo (left) as they meet with local farmers at a market in Kafululu, Zambia on June 7. At this market, Land O’Lakes monitors food prices to ensure commodity procurements and distributions do not have a disruptive impact on the market. USDA has funded a Local and Regional Procurement (LRP) Pilot Project designed to use local and regional purchasing to help improve the nutrition and quality of life of Zambian households impacted by HIV/AIDS.

My tour also took me to Kafalulu, Zambia.  I went to a commodity distribution site and a hydro-powered hammer mill.  I met with several individuals directly benefitting from the project.  It was wonderful meeting a young widow whose children are benefitting from the improved quality of food they’re receiving.  Thanks to the rations, the young mother has extra time which she is using to prepare a garden.

When I visited the Zambian Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ZAMACE), where the commodities are purchased through competitive tenders, I saw a local market where Land O’Lakes is monitoring food prices to ensure that commodity procurements and distributions do not have a disruptive impact on the local market.  I was charmed by the warm reception we received in the communities, and was impressed to see the level of community involvement.  Because all of the food distributed is bought from local farmers, millers and processors, the ZLRP project is strengthening Zambian agribusinesses.

In all, Land O’ Lakes and World Vision will distribute 3,600 metric tons of maize meal, 500 metric tons of beans and 200 metric tons of vegetable oil, all from Zambian sources.  An estimated 126 metric tons of high-energy protein supplements will also be given to households with children between the ages of six and 24 months.  Nearly 60,000 Zambians are expected to receive food aid through this project alone. This is just one of 22 worldwide projects funded through the USDA LRP Project.

As part of this pilot project, an independent evaluation will be conducted to examine the timeliness and efficiency of using LRP as a tool to enhance U.S. Government food assistance programs.  The findings of this study will be submitted in a formal report to Congress by June 2012.

The LRP pilot projects are one of the many ways USDA initiatives around the world are feeding those in need, developing agricultural infrastructure and ensuring international food security.

USAID Frontlines reports that the Food for Peace program in Mozambique has had great success reducing childhood hunger and improving access to food for the poor and is a partnership of NGOs, USAID and the Government of Mozambique. Click here to listen to the podcast and watch the slideshow.

Alliance for Global Food Security

April 26, 2011

In a letter to Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats the Alliance for Global Food Security urges higher food aid commitments in the new Food Aid Convention (FAC) that is being developed by donor countries, pointing out that current commitments only total about 5 million metric tons, half of what is needed annually to meet minimum needs.  The letter also asks that the current programming options for food aid stay intact and that information about whether donors have met their annual commitments be made publically available.

The FAC is an agreement by eight donor countries (the European Commission is treated as a “country”) to provide a minimum amount of food aid each year to developing countries.  First established in 1967 as part of the International Grains Arrangement, the latest version was put into force in July, 1999. [Text: http://www.foodaidconvention.org/en/index/faconvention.aspx.].  Donor governments are currently negotiating the terms of a new FAC, which they hope to complete by July 2011.

What makes the FAC so important and unique and that it seeks to assure predictable amounts of food aid are available even when prices fluctuate.  That is why commitments are made in terms of food aid tonnages rather than in terms of funds provided.  The Alliance therefore warns against changing the FAC from a tonnage basis to a cash basis or expanding it to include other types of assistance or food security programs in general.  Moreover, the Alliance notes that there are other forums for discussing food security and development assistance, including the restructured UN Committee on World Food Security (www.fao.org/cfs), the G-8 (L’Aquila food security funding commitments) and the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development.

FAC members are Argentina, Australia, Canada, EC, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the USA.  The FAC lists the amounts committed by each member and describes the types of food aid that can be counted toward a country’s commitment.  Since commodity prices vary year-to-year, countries meet their commitments based on amounts provided, reported in “wheat equivalent” tonnages.

The FAC is administered by the Food Aid Committee of the International Grains Council (IGC), which is comprised of representatives of the donor countries that are party to the FAC.  Decisions are reached by consensus; proceedings and reports are not public.  The Secretariat of the IGC in London performs administrative duties, mainly collecting reports on levels of food aid provided each year and calculating whether a country has met its FAC commitment.

The members of the Alliance are private voluntary organizations and cooperatives that are committed to addressing hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. They operate in over 100 developing countries, implementing emergency and development programs that directly engage, support and build the capacity of local communities, enterprises and institutions.

Wall Street Journal
April 16, 2011

WASHINGTON — Spiking food prices have pushed the world’s poor countries to “one shock away from a full-blown crisis,” the head of the World Bank warned Saturday.”

This is the biggest threat today to the world’s poor, where we risk loosing a generation,” World Bank President Robert Zoellick at a press briefing on encouraging global development.

 The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, holding spring meetings here, said skyrocketing food and fuel prices are the most serious near-term risk to developing economies.

 ”I’m concerned that commodity stocks are relatively low and if you have one other weather event in some of these areas, you really take a danger zone and start to push people over the edge,” Mr. Zoellick said. “That’s why we need also need measures on the volatility side.”

 The World Bank earlier this week said that its index of food prices shows the cost of basic food was up 36% on the year in March, and since June last year, 44 million people had fallen below the poverty line around the world as a result of higher food prices. If prices rise further, tens of millions more could be also be pushed into poverty, it warned.

 Mr. Zoellick said the bank is with agriculture ministers from the Group of 20 largest industrial and emerging market countries to in June approve a list of polices that could help fend off a full-blown food crisis. He said the G-20 should drop export restrictions for humanitarian purchasers such the U.N. global food program. “We need the humanitarian purchasers to at least get access,” he said.

Although the G-20 is already supporting the proposal, Mr. Zoellick said the bank wants to help U.N. improve information about the quality and quantity of grain stocks around the world.

 The bank could also help developing countries that don’t have the capability to tap advanced commodity and futures markets to help hedge against unforeseen food shortages, working with U.S. and European banks. “We could provide them intermediary service,” he said.

Join Food for the Hungry (FH) in supporting HungerFast.org
March 29, 2011

In early March, Congress proposed a resolution to slash:

• U.S. food aid programs by 41 percent ($687 million)
• Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance funding by 67 percent ($875 million)
• Development assistance by 30 percent ($747 million)
• Global health and childhood survival programs by 15 percent ($365 million)

The budget cuts would deny approximately 18 million poor and vulnerable people life-saving help.

“These programs account for less than one-half of 1 percent of the total federal budget, thus cutting them to the bone will have absolutely no measurable impact on the federal deficit; instead,  it will result in millions of people around the world falling deeper into poverty,” said Dave Evans, U.S. President for Food for the Hungry.

Advocate for the poor

From March 28 to April 24, join FH and Tony Hall, executive director of the Alliance to End Hunger and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, in fasting to save programs that benefit vulnerable people worldwide.
Partner with the FH family around the world in participating:

PRAY—Commit to praying about the hunger fast and for Congress to have wisdom as they consider budget cuts.

FAST—Join the Hunger Fast movement by skipping one meal every day and abstaining from solid food one day per week.

LIVE ON LESS—Commit to living on $2 of food per day to acknowledge the 2.1 billion people who survive on less than $2 per day.

SPEAK OUT—Write a letter to your congressional representative and senator and ask them to not cut humanitarian and development assistance programs.

Tell family and friends about this issue and encourage them to participate.

GIVE—Help hungry people today by supporting the work of Food for the Hungry worldwide.

Visit http://hungerfast.org/ to learn more about Tony Hall and the Hunger Fast

March 23, 2011
Des Moines Register

The Obama administration says it’s making progress in persuading other countries to avoid the export bans, hoarding and other measures blamed for worsening food price spikes in 2008. But officials with the administration and aid organizations are worried that Congress may worsen hunger problems by slashing funding for food and agricultural assistance.

Susan Bradley of the U.S. Agency for International Development said the administration is using lessons from the 2008 food crisis “to really bring home and to open up the dialogue as to the negative impacts of export bans, import bans and tariffs, things that actually contribute to instability.”

Bradley, who is senior adviser for USAID’s Bureau for Food Security, was speaking at a briefing today for congressional aides and aid organizations.

Export bans were blamed in 2008 for worsening food shortages in part by discouraging farmers in countries that imposed them from increasing production.

Instead, the administration is pushing developing countries to consider subsidy programs that will increase food supplies. At a recent international strategy meeting in Ethiopia, officials from developing countries brought private commodity traders to the consultations, a sign that governments are considering the impact of policies on markets, administration officials say.

At the same time, the administration is worried that spending cuts will hamstring the administration’s long-range goal of increasing food production in poor countries through its Feed the Future initiative. The administration wants to spend $1.4 billion on the program in fiscal 12, $600 million more than the program got in 2010. But the Republican-controlled House is proposing to cut total spending for the program to between $310 million and $630 million. International food aid also would be reduced.

Funding for food and agricultural assistance needs to be increased, not cut, when food prices are rising, said Alan Jury, director of U.S. relations for the UN’s World Food Program.

When the cost of food rises significantly, the poor cut back on their nutrition and to pay for food often pull children out of school to save the tuition, he said. “What you’re seeing is a slow insidious cutback on everything those communities can do to build health and economic assets,” he said.

Wendy Chamberlin, who was ambassador to Pakistan during President George W. Bush’s administration, warned that spikes in food prices could fuel unrest in the Middle East. Some Jordanians, for example, spend 80 percent of their income on food, she said.” Food and food vulnerabilities impact directly on the United States’ security,” she said.

Wall Street Journal
March 7, 2011
Caroline Henshaw

LONDON—The world has become increasingly vulnerable to food crises in the wake of the global financial crisis and the commodity boom of 2007-08, the United Nations’ food body said Monday.

 In its flagship report, the Food and Agriculture Organization said while world food prices fell after spiking in 2008, they remain elevated and volatile, a situation likely to continue owing to rising production costs, growing demand from biofuels and pressure on supplies from a rapidly-expanding population.

 ”The experience of the food price and financial crises have provided a sharp reminder of the vulnerability of world food security to shocks in the global food system and the world economy,” said the report.

 Some food prices have more than doubled this year after weather problems in key producers curbed the global production of wheat, corn, cotton and sugar. The FAO’s food-price index rose 2.2% on month in February, the eighth-consecutive monthly rise, to the highest level in real and nominal terms since the FAO started monitoring prices in 1990, according to data from the body.

 Charities warn the rising cost of staple foods could push the number of chronically-hungry people in the world above 1 billion, as happened in 2009.

 ”Millions more people are sliding into poverty as they struggle to afford basic food supplies and more and more are at risk of going hungry,” said Oxfam’s food-policy adviser Thierry Kesteloot.

 The FAO report said that with global food consumption outpacing supply, “prices are projected to increase over the next decade and to continue to be at levels, on average, above those of the past decade.”

 World food production, as measured by the FAO’s production index, is forecast to have grown 0.8% in 2010 after rising 3.8% in 2008 and 2.6% in 2007, as producers responded to the high prices of the food crisis.

 Global food consumption, which has been rising at an average of around 2% a year, was only marginally dented by the recession, the FAO said. Trade in food is expected to have contracted again in 2010 after increasing 4%-6% annually before the financial crisis.

 ”Episodes of high prices are detrimental to food security, and the high uncertainty associated with price volatility affects producer viability and may lead to reduced agricultural investments,” said the report.

 Problems such as climate change are also expected to leave markets more vulnerable to shocks: the number of Asian countries affected by food crises doubled from five a year in 1981-2002 to 10 in 2003-2009, for example.

 ”Since the mid-1980s, the general trend has been towards an increase in the number of countries affected by emergencies,” the report said.

 In the face of such growing pressure, the FAO said governments must boost investment in agriculture. It highlighted that closing the gender gap in agricultural production by empowering women could potentially boost developing countries’ output by 2.5%-4% and feed an extra 100-150 million starving people.

 ”The recent food and financial crises, the uncoordinated policy responses and continuing fears over global food-market turmoil have underscored the need for action by the international community,” it said.

To read the full report, please click here.

Editorial – Mason City Globe Gazette
March 6, 2011

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported last week that its Food Price Index — a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities — rose in February for the eighth consecutive month. Worldwide, food is more expensive now than it’s been since the index was started in 1990. It’s a problem here. The food-at-home index rose 2.1 percent in the last year, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. It’s going to get worse. Joseph Glauber, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief economist, last month predicted record prices for corn, wheat and soybeans in the crop year ahead. That’s good news for farmers, but as costs are passed down the supply chain, food prices could rise another 3 percent to 4 percent over the rest of the year. Things are far worse elsewhere. More than 1 billion of the world’s 6.1 billion people can’t afford enough to eat. High food prices are one of the root causes of unrest in Africa and the Middle East. The World Bank estimates that since last June, rising food prices have pushed another 44 million people into “extreme poverty” — living on less than $1.25 a day. The percentage of the world’s population living in extreme poverty actually has been falling since 1990, in large part because of major economic gains in China and the rest of East Asia and the Pacific. But that has brought increased demand for (a) oil, critical for food production, and (b) animal protein. Animals are a hugely inefficient means of processing grain into food. Add to that using corn for biofuel; diminished government-purchased food stockpiles; erratic weather patterns that brought extreme drought in Russia, China and elsewhere; and profiteering in the commodities markets. The result is a world food shortage. One other factor: the worldwide financial collapse of 2008-2009. Western governments are retrenching. One result is that the special World Bank fund set up in 2008 to boost worldwide food production has received only about 2 percent of the $22 billion promised by the G-20 group of developed nations. The United States has delivered only $66.6 million of the $3.5 billion it promised, and that was when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Now Republican budget cutters have targeted “foreign aid” for the knife. The Obama administration’s entire foreign operations budget request for the current year is $36.4 billion, less than 1 percent of the total U.S. budget. That includes not just food and humanitarian relief, but military assistance, economic development, narcotics control, health programs and credit resources. The budget request for the two major food programs — Food for Peace and the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program — was about $1.9 billion. Before cooler heads prevailed, House Republicans wanted to cut that to $1 billion. But this year’s budget battles aren’t over yet. U.S. food assistance programs are flawed. Often there is no cooperation by local governments. U.S.-provided food can displace local agriculture. The requirement that 75 percent of food assistance be shipped on the few remaining U.S.-flagged vessels raises costs and reduces effectiveness. These flaws can and should be addressed, but not by turning our back to a hungry world. In large part, the future security of this nation depends on the present food security elsewhere.

World Vision

February 23, 2011

Leading relief NGOs, in joint letter, warn that House budget cuts jeopardize life-saving disaster relief

World Vision calls on Senate to reverse cuts to effective humanitarian assistance in U.S. budget

As U.S. Senate lawmakers prepare to decide on fiscal 2011 spending next week, World Vision and other top humanitarian relief agencies call on them to restore the funding stripped away from effective and life-saving international disaster assistance and development programs in a bill approved by the House.

The budget resolution approved by the House on Feb. 19 would slash funding for foreign disaster assistance by more than two thirds (67 percent, $875 million) from FY 2010 enacted levels, putting in jeopardy America’s ability to prepare for and respond to the next major earthquake, tsunami or flood.

“These cuts are so drastic they will cripple America’s ability to respond to future disasters and forfeit our longstanding humanitarian leadership abroad,” said Robert Zachritz, government relations director for World Vision in the U.S. “They are disproportionate and devastating to America’s humanitarian mission, jeopardizing the success of emergency preparedness and response, as well as development initiatives.”

More than two dozen leading organizations that implement U.S.-led disaster responses on the ground, including World Vision, today released a joint letter to Congressional leadership stating: “The United States has – with strong bipartisan support – long been the backbone of worldwide humanitarian response,” saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year. But with these cuts, the U.S. “might simply fail to show up.”

The letter cites instances where the U.S. would forfeit strategic leadership, and reminds lawmakers that emergency appropriations made after a disaster has occurred are too late and insufficient for effective disaster response, which requires resources and preparedness.

World Vision, which responded to nearly 80 emergencies last year including the Haiti earthquake and Pakistan floods, witnesses the positive impact such international programs make on the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.

“While there is a real need to address the present budget crisis, these reductions target a tiny portion of the U.S. budget – just half of one percent of spending – at levels far outstripping the downsizing of other accounts,“ said Adam Taylor, vice president of advocacy for World Vision in the U.S.

The House resolution would also reduce U.S. food aid programs by 41 percent ($687 million), development assistance by 30 percent ($747 million) and global health and childhood survival programs by 15 percent ($365 million).

“If the Senate allows these cuts to stand, it would in effect be crippling America’s ability to carry out its foreign policy objectives through humanitarian and development assistance,” said Taylor. “That’s neither smart foreign policy nor smart budgeting.”

”We are calling for this crucial support for the world’s most vulnerable to be restored, without depleting other cost-effective assistance measures for the poorest of the poor” said Taylor.

World Vision is a global Christian relief and development organization with one million American donors, representing every state and congressional district. This constituency demonstrates that a broad base of U.S. voters and taxpayers prioritize development, feeding the hungry and protecting vulnerable lives.

Click here to read full letter to House Leadership

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org

House cuts would deny food help to roughly 18 million people, argues the director of a food aid alliance.

Ellen Levinson
February 20, 2011

The House of Representatives has put America’s international food aid programs on the chopping block, last week slashing these cost-effective and life-saving programs to their lowest levels in over a decade. While the House’s fiscal year 2011 funding bill cuts 10.3 percent from non-defense appropriations, it disproportionately cuts food assistance by an astonishing 42 percent.   Click here to read more.