On May 10, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture held a hearing on food aid and agriculture trade programs. The hearing was one of several convened by the House Agriculture Committee as it considers the reauthorization of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-171).
Chair Mike McIntyre (D-NC) stated, “I am proud to be able to say that the United States is by far the largest contributor of international food aid, providing over half of the annual total worldwide. I believe this represents the best qualities of our nation and our values as we share the fruits of our harvests with people in need across the globe. Unfortunately, despite the $70 billion provided by the United States over the last fifty years, millions of people around the globe face severe food shortages every year. As the witnesses will point out today, we are actually seeing increases in the numbers of people needing food assistance. Shocks to food systems that might have resulted in one bad year twenty years ago now seem to set countries back multiple years and multiple harvests. I hope the witnesses will address how we can better use the food we provide to reduce the incidence of these situations.”
The first panel, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), focused their testimony on the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, established under P.L. 107-171. Rep. McGovern explained that the program, which provides a nutritious meal for children each day in schools, “target[s] low-income and poverty areas with low school attendance, especially among girls, and where there is high incidence of child hunger and food insecurity.” He added, “On average, enrollment rose by 14 percent in schools served by McGovern-Dole projects, with the enrollment of girls increasing by 17 percent.”
Rep. McGovern described a recent visit to a McGovern-Dole project in Nairobi, Kenya: “These children live under very poor conditions, in shanties, with no regular food to eat, given that the majority of their parents are without jobs. Girls are at great risk in the community. Sometimes they are abducted on their way home from school, and their security is always an issue. The school has about 70 children orphaned by HIV/AIDS who are being taken care of by their relatives or well-wishers. I was told that the school loses at least one parent every two weeks due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. But I’m pleased to inform the Committee that HIV/AIDS education and prevention are provided at the school to all the pupils…I had the privilege to serve the children their lunch, and to join them during lunchtime. It’s a simple meal of corn and soy meal, maize and yellow split peas, and vegetable oil cooked into a thick porridge.” Another school he visited was the Kijiado Girls Primary School that “began as a rescue center for Maasai girls who were being forced into early marriage. Over the years, enrollment has increased exponentially from the initial 20 girls to the current total of 637 girls. The McGovern-Dole program began in 2001 and is administered by WFP [World Food Program]. In the Maasai community, there exists a belief that girls don’t deserve an education and should remain at home doing chores. There is also a tradition of arranged marriages between girls as young as age 12 and much older men. At the Kajiado School, many of the girls actually board at the school out of fear that if they return home, they will be forced into marriage. During holidays and when school is not in session, over 100 of the girls remain at the school because they cannot safely return to their homes and villages.” The head teacher at the school told Rep. McGovern that the “retention rate and daily attendance are both very high.”
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) stated, “There are 300 million school aged children around the world who suffer from hunger. Of these children, an estimated 120 million do not attend school. Food for Education is just what it sounds like: a unique program to simultaneously improve nutrition and education by providing students with a nutritious meal or take home rations. The McGovern-Dole Program, ably administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, donates agriculture commodities and provides financial and technical assistance to governments, intergovernmental organizations, and PVOs [Private Voluntary Organizations], who do a wonderful job identifying and reaching out to those in need.” She affirmed that providing food assistance through schools increases enrollment and noted that one of “the McGovern-Dole Program’s greatest successes has been increasing school enrollment among girls.” Rep. Emerson said that she and Rep. McGovern have introduced legislation (H.R. 1616) to reauthorize the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program; the measure would increase program funding to $300 million by FY2012.
Michael Yost, administrator of the Foreign Agriculture Service at the Department of Agriculture, reviewed current trade and food aid programs administered by the USDA. Describing the McGovern-Dole food program as “highly successful,” Mr. Yost stated, “This year, we will feed nearly 2.5 million women and children in 15 developing countries, including Cambodia, Guatemala, and Malawi, with the $99 million appropriated funding level.” He cited a project in Senegal that “is using vegetable oil, textured protein, and barley to feed nearly 18,000 primary school children and 1,800 pre-school children over a three-year period” and highlighted the project’s “maternal and child health component, which provides take-home rations to needy mothers with young children.” Mr. Yost said that a multi-year approach is fundamental to addressing chronic hunger and agreed that the McGovern-Dole program helps students “remain in the classroom and learn for longer periods.”
Also testifying were Mr. William Hammink, director, Office of Food for Peace, U.S. Agency for International Development; Ellen Levinson, executive director, Alliance for Food Aid; Annemarie Reilly, vice president and chief of staff, Catholic Relief Services; John Gillcrist, chairman, Bartlett Milling Company; Cary Wickstrom, wheat producer; Robert Binversie, volunteer, Farmer-to-Farmer; James Sumner, president, USA Poultry and Egg Export Council; and Patrick Ford, Ford’s Gourmet Foods.
