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House committee puts focus on global hunger

 

By JIM RUTLEDGE

D.C. Correspondent

 

WASHINGTON, D. C. — Just as the World Food Expo 2015 begins this month in Milan, Italy, targeting global food security, both Congress and a national task force have taken action in recent days to address the challenges of providing safe, nutritious, sufficient and sustainable food worldwide.

In a show of bipartisan unity, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs unanimously approved the Global Food Security Act of 2015 on April 23, pledging $1 billion over the next four years aimed at helping farmers, including smallholder farmers and particularly women, end extreme hunger and malnutrition.

A week before, the 83-year-old nonpartisan and independent Chicago Council on Global Affairs issued a 115-page task force report recommending a host of strong initiatives urging the U.S. government to take immediate and aggressive steps focusing on agricultural development – and to convene a bipartisan commission on how to tackle nutrition challenges globally.

"The health care and lost labor costs associated with malnutrition are burdening governments and economies, and the social costs it inflicts are unacceptable," Chicago Council President and Ambassador Ivo H. Daalder told 400 attendees at the Council’s fifth annual Global Food Security Symposium in downtown Washington, D.C.

"It seems obvious that what we eat has a huge impact on our health and well-being, yet for too long the agendas of the agriculture, nutrition and health sectors have been disconnected," former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman added.

"With the ever-increasing global prevalence of chronic disease driven in part by malnutrition and shortages of nutritious food in many countries, it is imperative that we make nutritious foods more widely available and affordable." He co-chaired the task force advisory group that drafted the report.

Speaking before policymakers, corporate executives, scientists and senior leaders from international and nongovernment organizations, former Congressman Doug Bereuter (R-Neb.), said, "Our government needs to commit to a strategy that lasts beyond one presidential administration. For this to happen, Congress needs to make food security an enduring foreign policy priority."

The council’s task force report, Healthy Food for a Healthy World, highlights the extent of global food waste: "Annual global food lost is estimated at roughly 40-50 percent of root crops, fruits and vegetables; 30 percent of cereals; 20 percent of oilseeds, meat and dairy products; and 35 percent of fish," researcher Louise Iverson concluded.

Other findings include:

•Rising malnutrition rates saddle economies with lower productivity and higher health care costs

•Adults who were undernourished as children earn at least 20 percent less than those who were not

•4-9 percent of most countries’ gross domestic product must cover the cost for treating those who are overweight and obese

•By 2030, the global decline in productivity resulting from chronic disease could cost the United States $35 trillion

•More than half of the chronically hungry people in the world are small-scale farmers

Among the conclusions: "Global investments in nutrition and agriculture by the U.S. can help build self-reliant and stable nations that are less likely to succumb to conflicts and humanitarian disasters, and crate valuable trading partnerships with Asia and Africa," such as the current U. S. talks with Japan and others.

A council spokeswoman could not confirm whether the report itself reached members of the House Foreign Committee as the vote was taken. "We routinely share information on our reports and studies with a wide array of committees, leaderships and personal offices on both sides of the aisle – as we did with this report as well," Laura Lucas Magnuson explained.

There is no timetable when the Global Food Security Act of 2015 will reach a full House or Senate vote. A spokesperson for bill co-sponsor Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) did not return inquiries by press time.

The intent of the legislation, H.R. 1567, would require the president to develop and implement a strategy to improve global food security, and require the administration to provide assistance to developing countries to reduce chronic hunger and poverty, support economic growth by expanding agricultural output and improve nutrition, especially among women and children. The bill would authorize slightly more than $1 billion in 2016, for programs at the State Department and USAID, but would be allocated over four years, until 2020. The committee’s unanimous vote was supported in writing by 58 humanitarian and relief organizations.

The World Food Expo will run from May 1-Oct. 31, with participation from 145 countries and international organizations. An estimated 20 million visitors are expected to attend. The Chicago Council is planning on sending a representative at some point during the Expo.

The theme is "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." An Expo 2015 report on recommendations tackling global food and nutrition security challenges will be published on Oct. 15, ahead of World Food Day.

5/6/2015