U.S. Pledges $3.5 Billion to Fight Global Hunger

by  Linda St.Cyr, Contributing Writer

Over the next 3 years, the U.S. will spend $3.5 billion dollars to help developing countries boost food sufficiency. The money will go to providing food sustainability in food-deficient countries with research, technology, farm supplies and access to new trade markets.

U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary, James Miller, said of the global food aid plan, “This is a wide-ranging effort involving multiple U.S. government departments… It looks at long-term mechanisms for resolving food needs, improving living standards and farm incomes.”The departments Miller refers to include the USDA, the U.S. Agency for International Development and non-government agencies in the countries targeted by the plan. 

“Feed the Future”, the food security assistance program, will target countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. President of the United States, Barack Obama, said of the programs goals, "...the United States is leading an effort to reach out to people around the world who are suffering, to provide them immediate assistance and to extend support for food security that will help them lift themselves out of poverty. All of us must join together in this effort, not just because it is right, but because by providing assistance to those countries most in need, we will provide new markets, we will drive the growth of the future that lifts all of us up."

Other countries have joined in the fight against hunger by pledging $18.5 billion dollars in support at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy in 2009. You can see the U.S. plans for implementation of “Feed the Future” FY 2010 in the working documents on the “Feed the Future” official website. Implementation plans are available for East Africa, Ethiopia, Mali, Ghana, Nepal, Guatemala, Nicaragua and many other countries who will be included in the plan for global food security. 

Visit Feed the Future for more information and the ways you can get involved in helping the fight against worldwide hunger.

“The question is not whether we can end hunger, it's whether we will."- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton