Food aid cuts jeopardize anti-poverty programs

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Food aid cuts jeopardize anti-poverty programs
December 22, 2004, BALTIMORE - As much of the world prepares to celebrate the season of hope and giving, the U.S. government is canceling and delaying shipments of food to a host of developing countries and reducing funds for programs intended help break the cycle of poverty.

A global hunger crisis looms as humanitarian organizations like Catholic Relief Services (CRS), one of the largest distributors of U.S. food aid, are forced to severely cut back or shut down programs that help improve the health, living conditions and livelihoods of people who suffer from chronic hunger. More than 5.5 million vulnerable people served by CRS will be left behind unless funds for the programs are restored.

"In the next few months, we will see significant breaks in food pipelines around the world," says CRS President Ken Hackett. "We are faced with decisions to choose one vulnerable group over another, whether to stop a school-feeding program for orphans or a supplemental nutrition program for HIV-infected mothers."

Every year, the U.S. government uses the nation’s abundance of commodities like wheat, corn, soy and rice for a variety of programs to alleviate hunger and poverty overseas. One of the government’s largest food aid initiatives is the Title II Food for Peace program. CRS uses Title II food aid food to build self-reliance in marginalized communities that do not have enough to eat, are prone to disasters and suffer from chronic disease like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The “non-emergency” programs help communities develop a diversity of options that can allow them to weather disasters.

Behind the United Nations, CRS is the largest provider of Title II food aid around the world. The agency estimates that more than 5.5 million vulnerable people will be severely affected by the current food aid shortfall:

• 1.2 million children from vulnerable households will not be given the opportunity for a well-rounded education.

• Nearly 1.6 million orphans, people with disabilities, people with HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases will not receive food assistance.

• More than 1.2 million mothers and infants will not receive critical health and nutrition interventions.

• About 1.5 million farmers will not receive the support they need to help them grow more food.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Natural and manmade disasters struck this year, stretching U.S. food aid beyond what was originally expected: Rains failed to come to Ethiopia, putting 12 million people at risk of outright starvation; 30 million people in Bangladesh lost homes, crops and livestock in recent floods; millions of lives in the Caribbean have been affected by hurricanes; 2 million refugees are fleeing from violence in the Darfur region of Sudan; all while Afghanistan and other emergencies continue to draw on resources.

While the United States is providing food aid for these emergencies, it is doing so by siphoning resources from “non-emergency” development programs—known as Title II Food for Peace—that use food to break the cycle of vulnerability to emergencies and increase self-sufficiency. That means those already at the bottom rung will fall into absolute destitution unless adequate funds are provided to the development programs.

Congress provided $1.183 billion for Title II in 2005, but that amount is only two-thirds of what is needed and slightly less than the amount appropriated last year. Only $468 million was planned to address emergency needs that are now estimated globally to exceed $3 billion; the U.S. contribution would normally be 35 to 40 percent of the global emergency need.

CRS RECOMMENDATIONS
At least $650 million more is needed to help offset the new emergency needs for 2005. Therefore CRS and the other members of the Coalition for Food Aid recommend that the Bush administration and Congress:

1. Release significant resources from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, a stockpile of U.S. food resources used during unexpected food crises in developing countries. At the urging of U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), 200,000 metric tons of commodities were recently released from the Trust to help address needs in Sudan. While this is a positive step, this amount will only last for two months.

2. Support supplemental appropriations to meet emergency food needs this fiscal year, as well as an increase in Title II food aid funding for 2006.

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency provides assistance to people in 94 countries and territories on the basis of need, not race, creed or nationality.

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