FOOD FOR PEACE

	FY 1998 Actual	FY 1999 Estimate	FY 2000 Request
P.L. 480 Title II	$837,000,000	$837,000,000	$787,000,000
P.L. 480 Title III	$ 30,000,000	$ 25,000,000	$ 0

U.S. support for overseas food aid was formalized in the Agricultural Trade Development and assistance Act of 1954, also known as P.L. 480 Food for Peace. The basic legislation, which has been modified many times, establishes the U.S. policy of using the country's abundant agricultural resources and food processing capabilities to enhance food security in the developing world through the provision of culturally acceptable nutritious food commodities. On a global level, more than 800 million people today are chronically undernourished, and more than 180 million children are significantly underweight. For the United States, reducing the number of chronically undernourished and underweight people throughout the world is both a humanitarian concern and strategic goal. The United States gives its food resources to help those in need and in crisis, as the United States seeks to eliminate the food insecurity that fuels political instability and environmental degradation. P.L. 480 Food for Peace is a people-to-people program, from the people of the United States to people who do not have access to sufficient food to meet their needs for a healthy and productive life.

P.L. 480 Title II, Emergency and Development Food Assistance

The requested funding level for P.L. 480 Title II development and emergency food assistance is $787 million. Within this level, USAID, through the Office of Food for Peace, will continue its efforts to promote managed growth in Title II development activities consistent with the governing legislative requirements. Non-emergency Title II activities of both the World Food Program (WFP) and the private voluntary organizations (PVOs) are expected to expand in FY 2000. In this regard, renewed attention will be given to activities that use food for humanitarian feeding and for education.

While positive results have been achieved in the use of emergency food aid to promote a return to developmental practices, it is clear that the transition from emergency food aid activities to more stable developmental activities is not always direct. Given the need to respond to both protracted emergency food aid requirements as well as the sudden on-set emergencies caused by natural disasters and political and economic instability, USAID expects to judiciously allocate the resources available in FY 2000 for emergency food aid response. Should emergency food aid requirements develop beyond the availability of Title II resources, however, it is expected that resources would be drawn from the Food Security Commodity Reserve to provide appropriate assistance.

USAID has strategic objectives of Title II programs that are linked to agency goals: 1. Through the use of P.L. 480 Title II emergency food aid, USAID's objective is to meet critical food needs of targeted vulnerable groups. In particular, the USAID aims to maintain or improve the nutritional status of populations affected by emergencies. Emergency humanitarian food interventions are implemented primarily by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and U.S. PVOs. In many cases, volatile conditions pose serious obstacles to reaching identified targeted groups in need of humanitarian assistance. Access to beneficiaries is often limited due to security constraints or lack of adequate infrastructure. Despite these challenges, Title II programs provided emergency food aid to an estimated 11.5 million beneficiaries in 1998. USAID implemented programs in 24 countries, valued at $408 million.

Although beneficiaries include victims of natural disasters, such as drought, typhoon, and cyclone, the majority (76% in 1998) of programs address complex humanitarian situations frequently caused or complicated by civil strife. U.S. emergency food aid targets refugees or internally displaced people, particularly malnourished children, women, orphans, unaccompanied children, and the elderly. The following activities and accomplishments are illustrative:

• In Kenya, WFP provided Title II emergency food aid to drought-affected groups, including 452,016 school children and 443,702 food insecure families. The provision of food to school children maintained attendance of children at the pre-primary and primary school level in the drought-affected areas. One of the program’s objectives was to restore and maintain the nutritional well-being of affected populations. After five months, the nutritional status of beneficiaries improved.
• In Bosnia and Kosovo, Title II programs target the special needs of elderly pensioners and other extremely vulnerable individuals. One intervention combined targeted food assistance to the most needy with bakery programs designed to strengthen local productive capacity. Besides providing bread to the most vulnerable groups, U.S. wheat grain was used to jump-start the Bosnian economy and to enhance local production capacity with a cost-recovery scheme built into the program. In Kosovo, Title II remains the principal international food aid response for the many displaced persons.
• In Angola, Title II emergency food aid programs respond to changing situations as the country attempts to draw away from years of war, but still struggles with socioeconomic problems and instability. Food-for-work activities rehabilitated rural infrastructure and revitalized agricultural production and farming systems. Success can be measured by the progressive graduation of 17,622 beneficiaries from the free food distribution program to the food-for-work component. By 1998, 56,393 internally displaced persons were resettled.
• In Liberia, Title II emergency activities played a major role in supporting the Liberian people in their recovery from years of civil war and in helping move recipients from relief to development. From 1990 to 1997, emergency food aid was provided to over one million internally displaced people and international refugees fleeing from war. After peace was finally established and elections were held, Title II programs shifted focus from emergency feeding to post-war transition activities necessary to rebuild the country. Title II emergency food aid played a significant role in increasing agricultural production. Food rations were provided to 118,000 farm families as part of the "seeds and tools" program, funded by USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the European Union, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This assistance ensured that seed rice was planted instead of consumed. The gains in agricultural production and the revitalization of institutions meant that significantly less aid was required.
• USAID innovated advance positioning of Title II commodities at U.S. ports for immediate loading in case of a sudden-onset emergency. The result has been immediate and successful responses to emergency food aid needs in Sudan, Somalia and Central America. USAID began airlifting commodities to Central America within one week of Hurricane Mitch and moved sufficient food from prepositioned stocks to feed over one million people during the first three weeks of recovery.

2. USAID's objective, through the use of P.L. 480 Title II development food aid or non-emergency food aid, is to increase the effectiveness of USAID partners in carrying out Title II activities. Title II development food aid focuses on mitigating food insecurity through activities implemented by PVOs and the WFP. These organizations utilize Title II food resources to enhance household nutrition to increase agricultural productivity, thus, helping reduce food insecurity in the developing world. During FY 1998, Title II commodities and Section 202(e) resources, amounting to approximately $406 million, were provided to USAID partners in support of non-emergency food aid activities. Of that amount, approximately $52.1 million (including ocean freight) were made available to WFP through the inter-governmental donor pledging process. These resources supported WFP maternal child health, school feeding, and nutritionally vulnerable group feeding in 25 low-income food deficit countries. The following examples illustrate Title II development activities:

• India has the largest number of nutritionally vulnerable mothers and children in the world. Through the provision of approximately 165,000 metric tons of highly nutritious Title II food commodities, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, and the WFP assisted more than 9 million food insecure women and children during FY 1998. In particular, CARE and the WFP both used Title II commodities to participate in a broad-based maternal and child health activity that is both integrated into USAID's strategic plan for India and supported financially by the Government of India. CRS is targeting a portion of its Title II resources to the relatively poor parts of the country with support to primary and secondary education. In addition, CRS continues to use Title II commodities to support its humanitarian feeding activities which focus on orphans and destitute adults.
• Ghana’s significant progress toward the development of a market-based economy supported by a sound agricultural foundation is being assisted by the activities of four Title II cooperating sponsors. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), CRS, Technoserve, and Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI) all implement Title II activities that promote raising small-holder food crop production and improving post-harvest storage. CRS, in conjunction with the Ghana Education Service, is also implementing its largest and most advanced food for education activity in Africa which is expected to reach over 187,000 school-age children during FY 1999. Finally, CRS is expected to continue its humanitarian feeding activities in Ghana in FY 1999 by assisting approximately 45,000 people whose livelihoods were severely disrupted by drought.
• Title II activities in Peru are a shining example of how well-designed food aid activities can contribute to improving food security of targeted groups and thus stabilize vulnerable populations during crisis periods. In addition, the evolution of Title II activities during the 1980s and 1990s demonstrates how the food aid activities can adapt along with the needs of the beneficiary groups. In the 1980s, during the height of the civil unrest and the resulting economic depression, direct food distribution activities were the primary method of reaching Peru’s food insecure. As civil disturbances have declined and economic stability has returned, Title II activities have gradually shifted to poverty reduction and income-generating efforts and will soon begin a nine year close-out process culminating in 2008.

P.L. 480 Title III, Food For Development

Since 1995, P.L. 480 Title III programs have been centered on countries most in need of food, which under current world conditions, are primarily in Africa; and on programs with direct linkages to increased agricultural production and consumption. Title III programs totaled $29.9 million in FY 1998 and assisted four least developed countries (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Haiti) that have demonstrated a substantive need for food assistance, the capacity to use the assistance effectively, and a commitment to policies that promote food security. In FY 1999, Title III resources are planned for Haiti, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Nicaragua.

The Administration is not requesting funding for P.L. 480 Title III programs in FY 2000. However, current authorities provide for the transfer of up to 15% of the funds from any title of P.L. 480 to carry out any other title.

P.L. 480 Title V, Farmer-to-Farmer Program

Titles I, II and III funds are also used to support the Farmer-to-Farmer (FTF) program. which provides voluntary technical assistance to farmers, farm groups and agribusinesses to enhance the potential for substantial increases in food production, processing and marketing. The program relies on volunteers from U.S. farms, land grant universities, cooperatives, private agribusinesses and non-profit organizations. Volunteers have been recruited from all of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In general, they are not overseas development professionals, but rather individuals who have domestic careers, farms and agribusinesses or are retired and want to participate in development efforts. They spend about a month in the host country on a typical assignment.

In 1991, a special initiative of the FTF program was authorized as one of the first U.S. assistance programs for the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union, and it continues to operate in all of the NIS countries. In the worldwide FTF program, over 1,400 volunteer assignments have been completed since 1991 in more than 70 countries, while in the NIS program, more than 3,500 assignments have been completed since 1992.

The Farmer-to-Farmer program has also increased the development and technical capacity of seven U.S. PVOs by using agricultural volunteers. The training and technical assistance that the program implementors provide to host country organizations strengthens U.S. PVO and nongovernmental organization partnerships. Many times, partnerships develop between host country organizations and U.S. organizations, some of which are formalized by written agreement. For example, the American Farm Bureau Federation, at the state level, has formed partnerships with many private farmers' organizations in the NIS. As a result, many of these local partnerships mobilize additional financial and material resources in support of sustainable agricultural development. The Farmer-to-Farmer program is also having a positive impact on the United States by raising public awareness about foreign assistance, correcting misperceptions of life and attitudes in developing countries and helping inform U.S. businesses of the environment and opportunities overseas.

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