Congress asked to drop $544 million food aid cut

Congress asked to drop $544 million food aid cut    The Alliance for Global Food Security wants the U.S. House of Representatives to reconsider its proposed $544 million cut in international food assistance programs for fiscal year 2011.
   'Reduced funding would set back efforts in low-income, food insecure countries to increase productivity and incomes in the agricultural sector, to reduce vulnerability to food crises, and to improve nutrition and incomes of the poor,' said Ellen Levinson, the alliance's executive director. 'It would be particularly devastating now, because food prices have soared to their highest levels in decades and low-income, food deficit countries are struggling with growing hunger and unrest.'
   In a Feb. 10 letter to the congressional appropriations committees, the alliance, which is comprised of humanitarian and development organizations that conduct programs in more than 100 low-income countries, urged Congress to provide the full funding requested by the Obama administration for fiscal year 2011 for both the Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education programs.
   The administration's funding request for the Food for Peace program for fiscal year 2011 is already $371 million less than the funding level for that program in fiscal year 2008.
   'This is because up until the last fiscal year, it was regular practice to underfund the Food for Peace program as part of the regular appropriations process and then attempt to meet the shortfall by bolstering the program later in the year through supplemental appropriations bills,' the alliance said. 'This piecemeal funding was fraught with inefficiencies, making it difficult for government agencies to control costs and procure and send commodities to needy countries in a timely manner.'
   The alliance said this is the second year that the administration requested adequate funding for the Food for Peace program through the regular appropriations process to meet minimal anticipated needs, thereby reducing reliance on supplemental appropriations except for unanticipated crises due to war, economic conditions and natural disasters, such as the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
   'Sufficient upfront funding is working well: it has allowed U.S. government agencies to implement improved commodity procurement strategies which ultimately save the U.S. government and the American taxpayer money,' the alliance said.
   The alliance noted that the Obama administration's proposed fiscal year 2011 budget for the Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole programs would help 50 million people, while a $544 million cut would reduce the number of U.S. food aid beneficiaries to about 12 million. ' Chris Gillis