28 October 2008
U.S. to Help Farmers in Vulnerable Countries Boost Yields
Cutting hunger and poverty is achievable, U.S. aid official says
Washington — Helping to increase the food production of farmers in 25 to 30 of the countries most vulnerable to food shortages is a key aim of the United States’ increased focus on agricultural development and food aid, says Josette Lewis, the top agriculture official of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
More than 920 million people worldwide do not get enough to eat. In 2007, the number of undernourished increased by 75 million because of rising food prices, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Addressing the World Food Prize Symposium held in mid-October in Des Moines, Iowa, Lewis said USAID especially wants to help small farms in sub-Saharan Africa double their yields of rice, maize and other staple crops by 2015 and increase farm incomes. The international community agreed in 2000 to a goal of cutting in half the number of people living in poverty and hunger around the world by 2015.
Cutting hunger and poverty in half is “an achievable goal,” Lewis said, and one envisioned in proposed legislation now before Congress that would significantly increase U.S. support for agriculture development.
Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania have proposed $10 billion in new funding for international agriculture programs. For the period 2008-2009, the United States has committed $5.5 billion in foreign food and agricultural assistance.
The United States wants to “strengthen every link of the food-value chain,” including agricultural research and information sharing, credit programs for small farmers and the use of new high-yield seeds that are resistant to diseases and drought, Lewis said.
Lewis said the United States will support more training programs for farmers in developing countries to help them use modern food-production techniques.
The training will help developing countries reduce by 75 percent their reliance on food aid, she said.
Lewis said USAID also is focusing on improving the nutritional value of the food aid it gives for children under age 5 and is refining its community-based nutrition monitoring programs. In addition, USAID is refining its forecasting tools to obtain better information on where a food emergency is likely to occur.
The United States is already working with other donor nations on the implementation of a strategy presented in June at an international forum in Rome to address the food crisis. That includes providing immediate aid to countries most vulnerable to rising food prices. Between 2007 and 2008, global food prices rose 52 percent, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
The U.S. strategy also includes encouraging policies that can expand regional trade in farm products and ease infrastructure constraints such as poor roads and border checkpoints that slow trade, Lewis said.
In the long run, USAID plans to form partnerships with private-sector companies, she said.
She said a number of U.S.-based companies such as John Deere, Land O'Lakes Inc. and the Monsanto Company “have made it clear they are ready to step up” and partner with various organizations to help boost agricultural productivity and reduce poverty in developing countries.
"It's time for a second Green Revolution that enlists a broader array of actors," Lewis said, referring to the first Green Revolution in the early 1970s that increased agricultural yields through development of new varieties of grains. New types of disease-resistant wheat created then are credited with saving more than 1 billion people in Asia from starvation.
Also at the forum, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer and World Food Prize President Kenneth Quinn signed an agreement to enhance information sharing between the two entities and to bring more agricultural scientists and farmers from developing countries to the United States to learn about agricultural technology from their U.S. counterparts.
For information on the 2008 World Food Prize, see “Two Former U.S. Senators Named 2008 World Food Prize Recipients.”
