World Food Program USA Statement on President Obama’s FY 2014 Budget

Published April 10, 2013

World Food Program USA supports proposed reforms to U.S. global food assistance programs set forth in the President’s FY14 Budget.   

WASHINGTON, DC, April 10, 2013 – Over the past several years, the Administration and Congress have transformed the U.S. response to global hunger through innovative efforts to address malnutrition, promote investments in agricultural development and increase the resilience of vulnerable communities in the face of recurrent crises. The proposed reforms build upon these unprecedented efforts and are an important step forward in comprehensively addressing global hunger and malnutrition around the globe.

The FY14 request comes at a critical time — with conflict, economic crises and natural disasters in many countries, the global need for food assistance remains high. Over 870 million people currently suffer from chronic hunger around the world, including 75 million people in need of emergency food assistance.

The proposed reforms will allow the U.S. government to respond to global needs with increased flexibility and efficiency and ultimately move more people out of hunger through: 

  • Eliminating the need to monetize food aid by supporting important development and resilience programs through a Community Development and Resilience Fund
  • Increasing the availability of cash for emergency food assistance operations to allow for rapid response to sudden-onset emergencies and, when food is readily available in local markets, support cash and voucher programs that can empower local food markets and small-scale producers
  • Continuing U.S. commodity purchases to ensure sufficient supply and production capacity for critical foods, including specialized products used to combat malnutrition
  • Enabling the U.S. government to employ a full range of tools to meet the spectrum of emergency and development needs and better leverage emergency response interventions to promote sustainable, long-term food security solutions for our world’s most vulnerable people.

We look forward to working with the Administration and leaders from both sides of the aisle in the U.S. Congress to ensure that American resources for international food assistance programs result in the greatest impact for hungry and poor people and families.

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World Food Program USA (WFP USA) works to solve global hunger, building a world where everyone has the food and nutrition needed to lead healthy, productive lives. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) works in over 75 countries, saving lives in emergencies, providing school meals to hungry children, improving nutrition of the most vulnerable people at critical times in their lives and helping build the self-reliance of people and communities. WFP USA works together with WFP to solve hunger globally through fundraising, advocacy and education in the United States.