20 April 2007

(Agriculture's Johanns says local purchase proposal would boost effectiveness)

Washington -- The Bush administration's proposal to use up to 25 percent of emergency food aid funds for purchases of food located near crisis sites would increase U.S. capacity to get food quickly to where it is needed, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns says.

"When rapid response is essential, we ask simply for the flexibility to save lives," Johanns told reporters after addressing the International Food Aid Conference April 18 in Kansas City.

The annual conference, which drew representatives from 28 countries, is the largest gathering devoted to food aid in the United States.

Johanns said he is "guardedly optimistic" Congress will agree to the local or regional purchase and distribution proposal. He said local purchases would avoid the often time-consuming process of loading and shipping U.S.-grown commodities to sites in need of immediate food assistance.

He said, however, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not anticipate frequent use of the local purchase option and that U.S.-grown food would continue to be the first choice in meeting global needs.

In the last two decades, the number of food aid emergency situations around the world has doubled to an average of 30 a year, Johanns said.

"The frequency of these emergencies places more stress on the food aid distribution system and makes it even more important for us to respond quickly and with flexibility when there is a crisis," he said.

Johanns said the United States was able to respond quickly to emergency food needs in Lebanon in 2006 and to countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because "we had supplies close by or already in the pipeline that could be rerouted."

In future emergencies, however, "the lead times and other logistical requirements of our current system could easily [create] a situation where we would be unable to deliver our aid as quickly as we would hope," he said.

Johanns said he expected U.S. commodity producers who in the past have opposed similar proposals because of potential lost sales would not oppose the current proposal.

"When the emergency is so dire, so pressing, so critical, if we can get food to these people faster I believe the American farmer will support that," he said.

Some representatives of private voluntary organizations involved in distributing U.S. food aid say local purchases should not be limited to a percentage of emergency aid funding or limited to emergency situations only.

The proposal is one of several changes the administration is proposing to the new multi-year Farm Bill now being considered by Congress. The current Farm Bill is set to expire at the end of 2007.

It also is one of several possible changes to U.S. food aid policy and procedures discussed at the conference, which was cosponsored by USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USDA and USAID each administer parts of the U.S. food aid program.

USDA also is asking Congress for authority to accept in-kind food aid donations, which is actual food purchased or donated and then delivered to targeted populations.

USDA and USAID together are undertaking a review of the quality of food aid they deliver to countries in need to ensure it meets the "unique dietary needs" of recipient populations, Mark Keenum, undersecretary of USDA’s Farm and Foreign Agriculture Service, told the forum.

One topic that evoked much discussion at the conference was the selling U.S.-produced food aid by recipient countries, with proceeds going toward development projects.

The practice is inefficient, some conference speakers said, because of the delay involved in turning the aid into cash.

Several private groups urged passage of bipartisan congressional proposals to expand the McGovern-Dole school feeding program that supports education, child development and food security in low-income, food-deficit countries committed to universal education.

The administration is proposing expanding funding for the program from five to 11 countries in the fiscal year beginning October 1 (FY08).

During his briefing with reporters, Johanns denied that the growing demand for crops for biofuel production would compete with future food needs of the world's growing population.

Improvements in technology, including improved seed varieties that can make current unproductive land farmable, combined with efforts to share knowledge of those technologies with developing countries and trade can help meet future food needs, he said.

A transcript of Johanns' remarks is available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site.

For more information on U.S. policy, see Global Development and Foreign Aid.