Offering of Letters 2014 | Page 7

U.S. Food-Aid Programs Questions and Answers 1. What is U.S. food aid? What does it consist of? The U.S. government’s largest food-aid program provides assistance overseas in two basic forms: • In-kind donations: Staple food items are distributed to survivors of disasters or used to support economic development in poor countries. Items that are distributed include: flour or cornmeal; rice; peas, beans, and lentils; vegetable oil; powdered milk; and high-protein products made from peanuts. Items appropriate to the diets of the recipients are distributed. • Funding: Food from the United States is donated to a poor country and then sold there. The revenue is used to fund projects carried out by private charities or intergovernmental organizations, primarily the World Food Program. The projects support agricultural, economic, or infrastructure development. 2. What countries are the top recipients of U.S. food aid? The United States is the world’s largest donor of food aid, supplying 60 percent of the total. Since the United States began its current food-aid programs in 1961, it has helped 3 billion people in 150 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. In fiscal year 2012, the U.S. government provided almost $2 billion in emergency and development food assistance around the world. In FY 2012: • the top recipients of emergency food aid were all in Africa: Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, and Chad. • the top recipients of development food aid were in Africa and Asia: Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and South Sudan. • In Latin America (and the Caribbean), the top food-aid recipients were: Haiti, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras. 3. How does the U.S. government administer food aid? The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversee the food-aid programs of the U.S. government. The largest food-aid program is authorized under Public Law 480 and is called Food for Peace (funded at $1.562 billion in FY 2012). The Food for Peace program, administered by USAID, provides food aid in two major categories: • Emergency food aid is immediate, lifesaving assistance and comes in the form of direct, free distribution to people in a famine or to survivors of natural or humancaused disasters. • Development assistance provides food aid over the long term to address chronic hunger and to support a poor country’s agricultural, economic, or infrastructure development. Food aid is also carried out under the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (funded at $188 million in FY 2012), administered by USDA. “McGovern-Dole” helps support education, child development, and food security for some of the world’s poorest children. Some current laws cause inefficiencies in the way USAID provides food aid: • Most food aid used in Food for Peace must be grown in the United States. This constrains USAID’s ability to use cash transfers and food vouchers in emergencies and to obtain food in or near the country of need, even when these methods are shown to be most cost-effective. • Half of all food-aid products must be shipped on American ships. The Government Accountability Office reports that obtaining and shipping food aid can take as long as 6 months and add as much as 60 cents for each dollar spent on food aid. • With some food aid, food is donated to a poor country and then sold there. The revenue is used to fund projects carried out by private charities or intergovernmental organizations, primarily the World Food Program. This practice is called “monetization.” These organizations get, on average, only 70 cents back per dollar spent on these sales. “Bread for the World’s commitment to put the poor and hungry first in our national priorities reflects both the Gospel and the strong words and actions of Pope Francis. One of the best things about Bread’s Offering of Letters is that it brings together our advocacy for more resources to feed a hungry world and efforts to reform and improve food-aid programs to make them more responsive and effective.” – John Carr, Director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Georgetown University 2014 Offering of Letters  5