A group of villagers working on soil bunding, near Harar. Photo by CRS staff.

As Congress develops the 2007 Farm Bill over the next few months, it has the opportunity to make sure that U.S. global food aid programs feed more people, helping them to be less vulnerable to emergencies and — ultimately — rise out of poverty.

Catholics and other people of good will throughout the United States are advocating for 2007 Farm Bill policies that further reduce hunger and poverty both in the United States and abroad. The 2007 Farm Bill will govern U.S. agricultural policy at home and abroad for the next five years and is the main vehicle that structures U.S. Food Aid programs. As a part of a broad Catholic effort to address a range of concerns about the Farm Bill, Catholic Relief Services is
calling for Congress to change policies that have driven down the food available for assistance, ultimately leading to cuts in important hunger programs worldwide.

Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one country where much of CRS’ work is focused on food security. Here is a snapshot of some programming in Ethiopia to highlight the importance of food aid around the world.

CRS Ethiopia has been supporting relief and development in Ethiopia since 1958. In Ethiopia, drought and poor land quality often spell agricultural disaster for people trying to earn a meager livelihood from herding and farming among the country’s deforested hillsides. While the distribution of U.S. food aid helps people make it through food emergencies, it is development programs such as those funded by the U.S. Title II Food for Peace program that help communities escape hunger altogether.

Food for Work is an activity supported by U.S. Title II funding. People receive food supplies for the work they contribute to programs that help their communities develop. In the steep rolling hillsides that surround Legedini village in the Diocese of Harar, for example, village residents built by hand many of the low stone walls that climb the terraced hillsides. They were paid for their labor by U.S. Title II food aid.

Terraced hillside outside of Dira Dawa. Photo by CRS staff.

Once the site of regular erosion, the now terraced hillsides are part of a soil- management approach called “soil bunding.” The terraces catch fertile soil as it washes from the top of the hills, providing richer soil in which to grow crops and animal feed. It is just one part of a large integrated program that bring numerous villages together to create better farmland, cleaner water sources, better community health practices and more lucrative markets for their crops.

Committees of villagers who live in a watershed district are involved in each phase of the program, which tackles the root causes of ill health, hunger and poverty in these Ethiopian communities. Managed by CRS and its partner, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, these integrated development programs run five years. When finished, the resulting water and agricultural projects, community health efforts and economic development programs are run and managed entirely by the communities that helped develop them, and which continue to benefit from them.

Currently in Ethiopia, the Development Assistance Program aims at addressing the root causes of poverty with a strategy based on watershed management, which looks to integrate other activities including: agriculture; natural-resource management; health and nutrition; and water and sanitation. Directly, this program serves more than 178,000 participants, while benefiting more than 890,000 people.

As CRS works on the Farm Bill in upcoming months, we will be calling upon our network of supporters to contact their elected officials to help shape a Farm Bill that best serves the needs of the poor overseas.

Things You Can Do
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Bags of Corn-Soy Blend, a mix of corn meal and soy flour, stacked in a CRS warehouse in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. Photo by Michelle Harrington/CRS

Former Vice President Walter Mondale and former U.S. Sen. David Durenberger have written a commentary for thier hometown newspaper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, that highlights an important food aid proposal being put forward by more than a dozen humanitarian agencies, including CRS:

A Better Way to Help the World’s Hungry - Crisis Relief, but not at the Expense of Programs to Help People Feed Themselves.

Young girls at a school in Ghana eat a meal provided by the food aid program. Photo by Sean Sprague for CRS.

The commentary deals with the fact that food aid resources are increasingly being diverted from long-term development programs to fund emergencies.

Food aid is not just an important resource in emergencies like natural disasters. It can also be a powerful tool in long-term development programs that help people build up the resources they need to eventually become self-sufficient.

At least 75 percent of U.S. food aid is supposed to be dedicated to these kinds of long-term development programs. But in recent years, the ratio has been reversed – 75 percent of food aid being used for emergencies, leaving only 25 percent for development.

The legislative fix favored by Mr. Mondale and Mr. Durenberger would mandate that at least half of the food aid budget be devoted to long-term development, placing it in a “safebox.” We feel that this is a sensible and equitable solution that will help us respond to unforeseen emergencies, while preserving these vital long-term programs that fight chronic hunger and increase food security.

For more information, the CRS website has a page on Food Aid and Food Security. We have also issued an Action Alert that outlines these proposals on fighting worldwide hunger through the 2007 Farm Bill and suggests ways to contact Congress.

CRS President Ken Hackett wrote this op-ed that was published in the May 10 edition of The Baltimore Sun.

By Ken Hackett

May 10, 2007

Winning a stable peace and securing global justice require not only a strong fist but also a helping hand. Unfortunately, the United States could miss an opportunity to extend that open hand of generosity at a time when the world has never needed it more.

Now that President Bush has vetoed the Iraq war spending bill and Congress has begun work on a new draft, public debate rages about deadlines and benchmarks. But there is a critical part of this legislation that almost no one is talking about. The veto didn’t just freeze money for the war; it also shelved assistance meant to save lives and foster peace.

The Iraq war spending bill included vital funding for emergency humanitarian crises, including food for the hungry, assistance for refugees and migrants, disaster and famine relief, and contributions to global peacekeeping operations. Without this funding for human emergencies in places such as Sudan, the Horn of Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan and the West Bank and Gaza, malnutrition, disease and violence will spread and the vulnerable will die.

The United States leads the world in the support of global humanitarian causes and has a long history of assisting the most desperate of humanity. Our country initiated the postwar reconstruction of Europe and Japan through the Marshall Plan, and led the formation of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. For the past half-century, U.S. food assistance has provided life and hope to hundreds of millions of people. And in the aftermath of famines, tsunamis, earthquakes or other disasters, the generosity of the American people is unmatched. American leadership can make the critical difference in addressing dire situations around the world. We must respond effectively.

The war spending bill included $460 million for food aid. This support feeds starving people in places such as Sudan and Somalia and also provides a platform for recovery and long-term development partnerships. Such collaboration supports education, agriculture and health. According to a study by the World Bank and the U.S. Geological Survey, $1 spent on disaster preparation through these kinds of developmental programs could avert as much as $7 in future emergency relief.

Also in the bill was $165 million to provide disaster assistance for the world’s most critical emergency needs. The U.S. continued its long tradition of reaching out to refugees and migrants, many of them displaced by unspeakable violence such as the crisis in Darfur, with $185.5 million in refugee aid. And we furthered our goal of global stability by pledging just over $500 million for peacekeeping contributions and operations.

As our nation and our leaders debate the military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand that much is at stake. But at the same time, global humanitarian needs cry out for attention.

When we use both our strength and our generosity effectively, we boost our national security. Congress and the president should put aside their differences over war funding to preserve the previously approved assistance for global humanitarian emergencies.

Ken Hackett is president of Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, the official international relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic community. His e-mail is president@crs.org.

CRS Chief of Staff Annemarie Reilly testified before Congress today on food aid. She outlined several proposals that would protect developmental food aid, which helps hungry people secure assets that help them help themselves.