I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3077 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 26, 2009 Ms. McCollum (for herself, Mr. Payne, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Honda, and Ms. Schakowsky) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to provide assistance to foreign countries to promote food security and agricultural development, to develop rural infrastructure and stimulate rural economies, and to improve emergency response to food crises, to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Global Food Security Act of 2009. (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Definitions. Title I—Policy objectives, planning and coordination Sec. 101. Policy objectives. Sec. 102. International investments in developing country agricultural land. Sec. 103. Comprehensive food security strategy. Sec. 104. Reports. Title II—Bilateral programs Sec. 201. Agriculture, rural development, and nutrition. Sec. 202. Agricultural research. Title III—University partnerships for agriculture Sec. 301. Amendment to Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Title IV—Emergency response to food crises Sec. 401. Emergency rapid response to food crises account. Sec. 402. Authorization of appropriations.

2.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)Nearly 1,000,000,000 people worldwide suffer from food insecurity, defined as a lack of access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for an active and healthy life. (2)The number of food insecure increased from 849,000,000 in 2006 to 982,000,000 in 2007, according to the Department of Agriculture. (3)The United Nations World Food Program reports that 25,000 people die each day from malnutrition-related causes. (4)The food security situation of lower income countries is projected to continue to deteriorate over the next decade. (5)Nearly one-half of the world’s food insecure live in sub-Saharan Africa. (6)The agricultural sector comprises large portions of the total labor force in many developing countries, as high as 70 to 80 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, where it also contributes about 35 percent of the total gross national product (GNP). (7)Agriculture has the potential to be an efficient engine for promoting economic growth and increasing the incomes of the poor in developing countries. (8)A diverse, secure, affordable, and universally available food supply has health benefits, including increasing child survival, improving cognitive and physical development of children, especially those under two years of age, and strengthening the immune system to bolster resistance to disease. (9)Under-nutrition is responsible for 35 percent of child deaths and 11 percent of the total global disease burden is attributable to maternal and child under-nutrition according to a review of literature published in The Lancet. (10)Rapid increases in global food costs since 2007 and the subsequent global financial crisis threaten to significantly undermine gains achieved in poverty reduction and health programs. (11)The poor in developing countries spend as much as 50 to 70 percent of their incomes on food. (12)Three out of five of those suffering from hunger are rural small-scale agriculturalists. One out of five is a rural landless laborer, and another one-fifth are urban poor, according to the United Nations Secretary General’s High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis. (13)Women, who are often heads of households, comprise a large proportion of small holders and face unique challenges and heightened vulnerability to food insecurity. Women produce 80 percent of food in sub-Saharan Africa, but have access to less than 5 percent of land, credit, and extension services. (14)Many food insecure countries also suffer from natural resource degradation and the resulting decrease in food and other ecosystem services these resources provide. Many of these countries are also among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. (15)A comprehensive approach to long-term food security should encompass improvements in nutrition, education, agricultural infrastructure and productivity, finance and markets, safety net programs, job creation, household incomes, research and technology, ecosystem services, and the sustainable management of land and natural resources. (16)The comprehensive, long-term global food security strategy of the United States should be integrated into a new national strategy for global development.

3.

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Administrator

The term Administrator means the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. (2)

Appropriate congressional committees

The term appropriate congressional committees means— (A)the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and (B)the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. (3)

Chronic food insecurity

The term chronic food insecurity means ongoing and persistent lack of access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for an active and healthy life. (4)

Agricultural development

The term agricultural development means methods to use agriculture as a basis for food security, family livelihood, and economic growth by increasing the productivity of those involved in the production of food, fuel, and fiber, including farmers, fishers, foresters, and pastoralists, particularly those that operate on a small scale, and linking them and their products to consumers through markets, including post harvest activities such as storage, processing, transport, and improving market efficiency. (5)

Rural infrastructure

The term rural infrastructure— (A)means public and private facilities and services necessary for agricultural production and other activities in non-urban (rural) areas; and (B)includes roads or other means of transportation, water supplies including irrigation, rural electrification, communication technology, financial services, storage, warehousing, and processing facilities needed for increasing agricultural production and linking producers to markets, including policies and regulations of such sectors in addition to physical infrastructure.

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