Senators urge strengthened food aid program

Senators urge strengthened food aid program    Nearly 30 members of the Senate Agriculture Committee asked President Obama to make significant changes to strengthen the country's Food for Peace program.
   'Fully funding Title II of P.L. 480, Food for Peace, while improving and modernizing the program's management and operations is an essential part of a smart, effective policy for U.S. international assistance,' said the senators in a letter to the president on Thursday.
   The senators urged the administration to take the following steps:
   ' Implement reforms contained in the 2008 Food, Conservation and Security Act in a timely manner, which will result in more effective and responsive P.L. 480 procurement practices.
   ' Spread out commodity orders by contracting with vendors for delivery over several months or the entire year.
   ' Expand pre-positioning of commodities overseas in areas close to 'hot spots' where food needs are greatest.
   ' Enhance the quality control systems used for procuring processed products.
   Established in 1954, P.L. 480 provides development assistance to between 15 and 20 countries.
   During the 1996 World Food Summit, industrialized countries pledged to reduce by half the number of malnourished people globally to below 400 million by 2015. However, by the end of 2008, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that there are now about 963 million hungry people throughout the world.
   'A significant increase in funding for P.L. 480 is necessary if this program is to meet critical needs in the coming year,' the senators warned. They also noted that the 2007-2008 spike in world food prices has made the requirement to increase development assistance even more crucial.
   'Funding P.L. 480 at the full authorization level of $2.5 billion is a means to fulfill this commitment to the international community and our collective future' and 'is critically needed and well justified for fiscal 2010,' the senators said.