The USDA will provide $466.5 million to strengthen global food security through its two premier international development programs, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at the Clinton Global Initiative 2024 annual meeting, held Sept. 23-24.
For the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, USDA is allocating $248 million in fiscal year 2024 funds to support projects in nine countries that will provide critical school meals and boost literacy and primary education, especially for girls, according to a news release.
Through Food for Progress, USDA will provide $218.5 million to help seven countries strengthen their agricultural systems, adopt climate smart technologies, sustainably increase productivity and expand international trade.
“The McGovern-Dole and Food for Progress programs are the embodiment of USDA’s multi-faceted approach to combatting hunger and poverty and addressing the effects of the climate crisis worldwide,” Vilsack said in the release. “Teaming up with both private- and public-sector partners, we’re not only providing direct food assistance, but also fostering sustainable agricultural productivity growth, promoting climate-smart agriculture and enhancing developing countries’ ability to engage in trade, which is critical to food security.”
Under both programs, USDA purchases U.S.-grown commodities and provides them to implementing organizations, including the United Nations World Food Program. Food for Progress implementing partners sell the commodities locally and use the proceeds to support local development projects. McGovern-Dole partners use the commodities directly in school feeding programs. Of this year’s $248 million McGovern-Dole allocation, $24 million will be used to support local and regional procurement of commodities to supplement the donated U.S. commodities, consistent with the provisions of the 2018 farm bill.
Through the McGovern-Dole Program, the U.S. is the largest donor to global school feeding programs. This year, USDA will provide more than 37,000 metric tons of U.S. commodities to support projects in Angola, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Malawi and Rwanda, benefiting approximately 1.2 million children and their family members in more than 2,800 pre-primary and primary schools, the release said.
The Food for Progress projects funded this year will use 315,000 metric tons of U.S. commodities and ultimately benefit nearly 200,000 farmers in Benin, Cambodia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Tunisia and will focus on priority topics including climate-smart agriculture, food security, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, access to capital and trade facilitation.
More information about the international food assistance and development programs can be found on the USDA’s website.
