12 June 2009
United States Supports New Approach to Tackling Global Hunger
Will involve various sectors to collect best practices
Washington — President Obama, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in coming weeks will begin reaching out to other aid donors, nonprofit groups, universities and businesses for best practices that can be used in a new approach to ending global hunger.
At a June 11 ceremony at the State Department to announce the winner of the 2009 World Food Prize, Clinton said an example of a group with which the United States will work is the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, an African-led initiative to boost agricultural productivity.
For too long the primary response to hunger has been to send emergency aid “when the crisis is at its worst,” she said. “This saves lives but doesn’t address hunger’s root causes.”
Clinton said the United States supports creating effective and sustainable farming systems in regions and countries where current methods are not working.
A new approach to hunger will also benefit the United States, Clinton said. By helping to enhance agricultural productivity — “the right thing to do” — the United States will improve its ability “to affect extremism and violence and conflict.”
Anti-hunger advocacy groups have been calling for a new approach and more funding for food aid.
“We are very encouraged to hear Secretary Clinton’s call for a new, more demand-driven approach to food security and agricultural development that emphasizes deep engagement with stakeholders. We have a tremendous opportunity to try this out in sub-Saharan Africa, where a number of countries are now completing agricultural strategies under the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme,” Julie Howard, executive director of Washington’s Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, told America.gov.
Aid agreements between the United States and other countries will help partners achieve priority objectives and “mutually defined and monitored target outcomes,” Howard said.
A more efficient foreign assistance system with better coordination and better accountability “means that people get help faster and more effectively,” Washington-based Bread for the World said in a public letter.
Clinton laid out strategies that will guide the United States in supporting sustainable agricultural systems:
• Expanding access to quality seeds, fertilizers, irrigation tools, credit and training.
• Helping farmers get their products to market by improving food storage and processing and rural roads.
• Maintaining natural resources to preserve land for future generations and help countries adapt to climate change.
• Expanding research and development to cultivate the next generation of plant scientists.
• Supporting policy reform and good governance.
• Increasing trade so small-scale farmers can sell their products in more markets.
• Supporting women — who are the vast majority of the world’s farmers — and their families.
See “Ethiopian American Wins 2009 World Food Prize” and the “One Table: Advancing Agriculture to End Hunger” fact sheet.
