FY13 Budget Request: Testimony by USAID Administrator Shah to U.S. House of Representatives Committee
Last year, the worst drought in 60 years put more than 13.3 million people in the Horn of Africa at risk. Thanks to the humanitarian response led by the United States, and the investments we made in the past to build resilience against crises just like these, millions were spared from the worst effects of the drought.
But as is well known, providing food aid in a time of crisis is seven to 10 times more costly than investing in better seeds, irrigation and fertilizers. If we can improve the productivity of poor farmers in partner countries, we can help them move beyond the need for food aid. And we can prevent the violence and insecurity that so often accompanies food shortages.
That’s why we are requesting $1 billion to continue funding for Feed the Future, President Obama’s landmark food security initiative. These investments will help countries develop their own agricultural economies, helping them grow and trade their way out of hunger and poverty, rather than relying on food aid.
The investments we’re making are focused on country-owned strategies that can lift smallholder farmers, the majority of whom are women, out of poverty and into the productive economy.
All told, the resources we’re committing to Feed the Future will help millions of people break out of the ranks of the hungry and impoverished and improve the nutrition of millions of children.
We’re also leveraging our dollars at every opportunity, partnering with countries that are investing in their own agricultural potential and helping companies like Walmart, General Mills and PepsiCo bring poor farmers into their supply chain.
These investments are working.
In Haiti, where we continue to make great strides thanks to strong congressional support, we piloted a program designed to increase rice yields in the areas surrounding Port-au-Prince. Even while using fewer seeds and less water and fertilizer, Haitian farmers saw their yields increase by almost 190 percent. The farmers also cut 10 days off their normal harvest and increased profit per acre. Today that program is being expanded to reach farmers throughout the country.
These results complement our work to cut cholera deaths to below the international standard. And we worked with the Gates Foundation to help nearly 800,000 Haitians gain access to banking services through their mobile phones.
And in Kenya, Feed the Future has helped over 90,000 dairy farmers, more than a third of whom are women, increase their total income by a combined $14 million last year. This effort is critical, since we know that sustainable agricultural development will only be possible when women and men enjoy the same access to credit, land and new technologies.
Overall, since we began the initiative in 2008, our 20 target countries have increased their total agricultural production by an average of 5.8 percent. That’s over eight times higher than the global average increase of 0.7 percent.