WASHINGTON-A proposal in Congress risks pulling food aid out
of reach for up to 8 million people, just as soaring commodity prices deplete
available assistance and exacerbate poverty, US officials said.
The House of Representatives and the Senate have proposed
setting aside up to half of the annual budget for Food for Peace, the largest US
food aid program, to channel food aid donations toward development projects
aiming to end chronic hunger by bolstering nutrition or farming in poor
countries.
It is a laudable goal, said Jonathan Dworken, the program's
deputy director, but he warned the set-aside would come at the expense of
assistance desperately needed when war or natural disasters, such as the 2004
tsunami, strike.
"It would mean shifting $100 million to $250 million away
from emergency programs," potentially making aid unavailable for up to 8 million
would-be beneficiaries, Dworken told Reuters in an interview.
The United States has spent about $350 million in recent
years on the non-emergency programs within Food for Peace, in which private
charities like World Vision sell donations of U.S. crops on local markets in
poor countries and use the proceeds to fund their aid work.
The debate over the proposed changes to food aid law in the
2008 farm bill, an omnibus agriculture law working its way through Congress,
takes on a new urgency as aid officials fret over how to cope with a dramatic
run-up in commodity prices.
Exploding wheat, corn, and soybean prices, driven by biofuel
production, economic growth, and paltry harvests, have transformed commodity
markets in recent years. At the same time, record oil prices are putting an
additional squeeze on aid programs as they nudge up shipping prices.
The World Food Program, the United Nation's food aid agency, is facing a $500
million shortfall for this year, and is canvassing donors so it doesn't have to
curtail aid.
"This is the worst possible time for this to happen," Dworken said.
At last calculation, Food for Peace's costs had jumped 41 percent in the first
half of fiscal 2008, forcing the agency to divert funds it was planning on using
for future assistance to pay for past donations.
