USAID asks for food aid flexibility in farm bill

The U.S. Agency for International Development on Wednesday asked Congress to improve the efficiency of U.S. food assistance authorized by the farm bill as it seeks ways to streamline the response to any food crisis. The agency needs more flexibility to spend money in ways that best fit local realities, USAID Assistant to the Administrator for the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance Sarah Charles told a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The current food crisis has strained USAID resources, she said, and current farm bill requirements have restricted its ability to respond. “There's an opportunity to maximize American generosity and save even more lives,” Charles told senators. The farm bill governs the flagship U.S. foreign food assistance programs McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, Food for Peace, and Food for Progress. It must be passed by Sept. 30 to reauthorize the programs for the next five years, a process that is expected to be contentious in an increasingly polarized Congress. Charles requested technical changes to improve USAID’s ability to deliver efficient foreign assistance, including reducing complex accounting provisions that distract implementers from program delivery. Such simplification could also help more local organizations, which often struggle to meet complicated administrative requirements, partner with USAID, she said. “I’d love to work with you all on some greater flexibilities on those programs to allow us to tailor to the specific context,” Charles said. This includes being exempt from the requirement of using U.S.-grown in-kind commodities, “if that’s the most appropriate way to program,” she added. Long pushed by senators from agricultural states, the farm bill requires the majority of U.S. food assistance to be in the form of home-grown commodities shipped on U.S.-flagged vessels. As shipping costs have skyrocketed, less money can be spent directly on food assistance to meet the need of a growing hungry population. Reforms to a provision in related legislation requiring shipping on U.S.-flagged ships, known as cargo preference, were not mentioned in the hearing. USAID and NGOs have repeatedly sought a relaxation of the rules that would shorten the time it takes to move food assistance around the world. Greater efficiencies will allow the agency to feed more people, Charles said, noting that every $1 invested in households through Food for Peace saw $3 in additional benefits. The agency’s goal is to help people “graduate” from being reliant on food aid, she said. Only about 10% of Food for Peace activities are focused on resilience building, such as improving productivity and withstanding shocks from climate change and conflict. “U.S. assistance programs have never been more vital,” Charles said.