Food Aid, Famine & Nutrition

President Bush has called on Congress to approve an additional $770 million to support food aid and agricultural development programs in fiscal year 2009. With the administration's release of $200 million worth of emergency food reserves from a special humanitarian trust in April, America would spend a total of nearly $1 billion in new funds to bolster food security in poor nations, Bush said May 1 at the White House. The trust is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The administration also has a pending request to Congress for approval of an additional $350 million to be made available immediately, Steve McMillin of the Office of Management and Budget said during a White House press briefing following Bush's statement. McMillin was joined at the briefing by Ed Lazear, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Dan Price of the National Security Council. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in an April 28 news release that it is steering $40 million in fiscal year 2008 emergency funding for aid to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Haiti, Somalia, Mauritania, Uganda, Sudan and Zimbabwe. The aid would be distributed by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).

Background Briefing on Food Aid Announcement

2008: Bush Orders $200 Million for Emergency Food Relief (Apr 15, 2008) | Rising Global Food Prices Likely to Continue, Say Experts (Apr 11, 2008)

2006: U.S. Disagrees with EU's "Cash Only" Food Assistance Policy (Jan 12, 2006)

U.S. officials lashed out at the Europe Union for distorting food aid issues at global trade negotiations in Hong Kong in December 2005, calling their position “irresponsible” and urging EU trade ministers to start negotiating broader global agricultural reform. The food issue has become central to the trade negotiations, scheduled to conclude at the end of 2006, because many developing country food producers believe that government agricultural supports from industrial countries are preventing developing country farmers from competing in world markets. The European Union has charged that the United States’ practice of buying grain from U.S. farmers and giving it away as food aid amounts to a subsidy. U.S. officials say European food assistance has dropped significantly and to change the U.S. program would be to deprive starving people of much-needed food.

2005: U.S. Challenges European Union Criticism on Food Aid Issues (Dec 14, 2005) | U.S. Trade Representative Rebuts EU Criticism over Food Aid (Dec 13, 2005) | Trade Representative Building Support for U.S. Food Aid at WTO (Sep 21, 2005) | Agriculture Secretary Defends U.S. Food Aid Policy (May 5, 2005)

2004: Plan to End Famine Endorsed by G8 Leaders (Jun 10, 2004)