The “Feed the Future” program, which combines private sector and U.S. funding with local leadership to spur agricultural development overseas, “reached nearly 7 million smallholder farmers and helped to save 12.5 million children from the threat of hunger, poverty, and malnutrition in just the last year alone,” says USAID, the parent agency. The program operated in 19 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean in 2013 and helped growers “use new technologies and management practices—such as high-yielding seed varieties—on about 9.9 million acres of land.”
USAID’s report on the program is available here.
Also, USAID announced a $5 million partnership with the World Coffee Center with the goal of eliminating coffee rust. The fungus has caused $1 billion in losses and could put 500,000 people out of work in coming years. Overall, USAID said, it is putting $14 million into mitigating losses.