After five seasons without meaningful rainfall in the Horn of Africa, famine is projected in parts of southern Somalia in the spring without reliable food aid, a top USAID official told senators on Wednesday.
“Preventing famine and large-scale deaths across the region in the coming year will require sustained and robust humanitarian assistance from the international community,” said Sarah Charles, head of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.
The United States, the world’s largest food-aid donor, will do its part but USAID “faces a sharp decline” in resources because it has spent most of the money appropriated by Congress last year, said Charles during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing. Last year, the Biden administration emptied an emergency fund held by USDA, the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, because of increased hunger around the world and the rising cost of food.
The mainstay of U.S. food aid, the Food for Peace Program, and the Emerson Trust typically are reauthorized when Congress enacts a farm bill. Charles suggested some bookkeeping changes and streamlining of regulations to “maximize American generosity and continue to meet the humanitarian challenges of today and tomorrow.”
USAID spent roughly $2.6 billion through Food for Peace in fiscal 2022 to buy 1.8 million tonnes of food for 45 million people in 21 countries. Five countries received the bulk of the aid: Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Congo.
“The ongoing 2.5-year drought is the most extensive and persistent drought event in decades, leading to crop failure, millions of livestock deaths, water scarcity, and soaring staple food prices,” said the Famine Early Warning System Network. Its climate scientists expect a drier-than-normal wet season from March through May in the Horn of Africa. Approximately 23 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya require emergency food aid to meet their basic needs, said Charles.
“However, the crisis continues to deteriorate. An unprecedented sixth consecutive poor rainy season looms on the horizon this spring, and in the absence of sustained humanitarian assistance, famine is projected to emerge in parts of southern Somalia between April and June,” she said.
Earlier this week, UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced $41 million in U.S. aid for famine prevention efforts in Somalia.
During the hearing, the senators also got an update on the dispute over GMO corn between the U.S. and Mexico. Agriculture Undersecretary Alexis Taylor told impatient Republican senators that the Biden administration was “engaging with urgency” with Mexico over a potential ban on imports of GMO corn. The lion’s share of U.S. corn is grown from GMO seeds and Mexico is a leading customer. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the No. 1 corn state, was among senators to suggest a trade complaint should be filed under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.
“We are still productively engaging with Mexico” and seeking a resolution that would not disrupt trade flows, responded Taylor. The administration has raised the possibility of a USMCA challenge if Mexico does not change its policies.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 GOP leader in the Senate, said the administration was not aggressively trying to expand U.S. exports. “You guys have to step up your game here and I hope you will,” he said.
To watch a video of the Senate Agriculture hearing or to read the written testimony of witnesses, click here.