Feed the Future

President Obama signed the bipartisan Global Food Security Act of 2016 yesterday, steering $7 billion toward agricultural development and hunger-relief efforts around the world, and ensuring that both public and private operations would continue to work together to fund these efforts in Africa and other food-insecure regions.

The House gave final congressional approval, 359-53, to a bill that calls for a comprehensive U.S. strategy to reduce hunger and malnutrition in developing nations. President Obama praised passage of the bill, which makes permanent the Feed the Future program, an early initiative of his administration.

Legislation intended to make U.S. food assistance programs more efficient was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bill includes the first-ever authorization of the Feed the Future, an Obama administration initiative to improve local food production.

The Senate confirmed Gayle Smith as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development on a 79-7 roll call, seven months after she was nominated by President Obama, said The Hill newspaper.

In a 40-page report, Oxfam America suggests several steps to improve Feed the Future, an Obama administration initiative that uses public-private partnerships to boost local food production in targeted countries.

The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, announced he will leave the agency early next year, said the New York Times. Shah served briefly as an agriculture undersecretary before becoming USAID administrator in 2010.

The first-ever authorization bill for the Feed the Future initiative was scheduled for a votein the House today. Sponsors expect it to pass easily.

During a speech to the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, President Obama summarized $33 billion in new investment in the continent and said stable societies with forward-looking governments would be the foundation for economic growth.