Devex Dish: A breakdown of USAID’s cash infusion for food security

This week saw the fight against food insecurity get a massive cash infusion from U.S. coffers — possibly in response to prodding last week from a group of 13 U.S. senators, who sent a letter to USAID Administrator Samantha Power demanding a faster response to the food crisis. On Monday, she responded with a speech promising new funding for global populations in crisis (and touting a road map to global food security that the U.S. launched in May). Here’s how the money shakes out, according to my colleague Adva Saldinger, who generously stepped in to cover Power’s speech while I was away on Monday:

• Nearly $1.2 billion to provide food, cash assistance, health care, and other basics to people in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, which are experiencing the worst drought in four decades and a lack of grain supplies that were previously sourced from Russia and Ukraine. In her speech, Power called for other countries to step up support for “the less visible victims of Putin's war.”

• $90 million for development assistance in the Horn of Africa, which will be drawn from the $760 million already approved by the U.S. Congress in response to the Ukraine crisis. This is expected to focus on long-term projects such as distributing drought-tolerant seeds, maximizing fertilizer usage, and reducing food waste.

• For individual and corporate donations to the crisis response, USAID is partnering with GoFundMe.org on a new global food fund that will provide money to relevant NGOs.

• $200 million to UNICEF specifically to fund the purchase and distribution of ready-to-use therapeutic food, a highly efficient treatment for malnutrition. Power said that would be enough to treat an estimated 2.4 million children.

Her announcement also came with a side of geopolitics: Power called out China for lackluster donations to the World Food Programme this year compared with its previous efforts. In 2017 China gave $34 million to WFP for a drought in the Horn of Africa, while it’s given only $3 million so far in 2022. Her words for Russia were even harsher, as she accused President Vladimir Putin of “waging a war on the world's poor.”

Read: USAID's Power unveils over $1B for global food crisis, calls on others

Regrets, IFAD a few

The International Fund for Agricultural Development has become the first U.N. fund — and the only U.N. body and specialized agency other than the World Bank Group — to enter capital markets by issuing bonds. IFAD aims to raise between $600 million and $700 million of its 12th replenishment in private placements to meet its fundraising goal of $3.5 billion by 2024 in a bid to help alleviate increasing world hunger.

“Public spending will not be enough. … If you put together the aftermath of COVID — whose effects are actually not yet fully embedded in the numbers — the food crisis that will come from the conflict in Ukraine, the fact that actually rural smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable to climate change … there is no question that more funds are required,” Natalia Toschi, IFAD’S head of funding, tells me.

Read: IFAD becomes only UN agency to issue bonds (Pro)

+ A Devex Pro membership brings you essential analysis, data-driven funding insights, and access to the world’s largest global development job board. Not gone Pro yet? Start your 15-day free trial.

A mouthful

Cindy McCain says the U.S. — the world’s largest donor to global food security — needs more nations to step up and help in light of the worsening situation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

I spoke with her last week just after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced a preliminary deal had been struck to get 22 million tons of trapped grain out of Ukraine. McCain said she unfortunately doesn’t share Guterres’ optimism that the pact will come to fruition, and she outlined countries that will be particularly damaged as the war and blockade continue.

Last week, the heads of FAO, IMF, the World Bank, WFP, and WTO issued a joint statement calling for short- and long-term actions in four key areas — providing immediate support to vulnerable populations, boosting production, investing in climate resilient agriculture, and facilitating trade and supply of food — to help avert the worst of the food crisis.

And on Tuesday, USAID promised a new $100 million initiative focused on helping Ukraine maintain its agricultural sector and export agricultural goods around the world.  

'We need more help:' McCain wants more countries to aid in food crisis

Number munching

That’s how many additional people globally were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2020 compared with the previous year, bringing the total to 3.1 billion, according to new data from the World Bank. The global average daily cost of a healthy diet in 2020 was $3.54 in purchasing power parity, up from $3.31 in 2019 — exceeding the international poverty line of $1.90 a day.

“The fact that a person could be considered not poor, according to these poverty lines, but yet be far from able to afford a healthy diet, let alone other essentials, should give us pause,” says Aart Kraay, a chief economist at the bank.

World Bank: Healthy diet costs are skyrocketing, reversing gains

Chew on this

USAID has announced $15 million in humanitarian assistance for Palestinians, particularly those in Gaza, in response to rising food insecurity amid the Ukraine war. [USAID]

IFAD has chosen Chief Financial Officer Alvaro Lario to become its new president; he’ll take office on Oct. 1. [IFAD]

Cows exposed to Indian instrumental flute and sitar music “exhibited a significant … difference” in milking time and speed. [Tropical Animal Health and Production]

Warming waters on Kenya’s south coast due to climate change have forced tuna species to alter their migration patterns, challenging local fishers. [The Associated Press]