[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 97 (Monday, July 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S8577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        AFRICA SEEDS OF HOPE ACT

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise to co-sponsor S. 2283 the 
Africa Seeds of Hope Act. This bill offers us a rare opportunity to 
improve a people's way of life. Introduced by my colleagues Senator 
DeWine and Senator Sarbanes, the Africa Seeds of Hope is landmark 
legislation that will help feed a continent, but more importantly 
provide the people of that continent with the tools of self-sustenance. 
This bill not only validates our judgement as good legislators, but 
challenges us to a higher standard.
  S. 2283 designates organizations such as the U.S. Agency for 
International Development and the Overseas Private Investment 
Corporation to support rural finance, agricultural research, and food 
security programs to increase food production and the capital of small 
scale African farmers and entrepreneurs. It also provides women, the 
facilitators of agricultural growth in Africa, with improved resources 
to expedite development. Financial support for this program would 
emanate from a presently existing account and would not require any new 
funds to be allocated.
  Mr. President, at this point I would like to note a few crucial 
statistics that are often overlooked, and that are shocking, 
particularly in comparison with our own fortunate state. Today, on the 
brink of the 21st Century and the new millennium, 215 million African 
men, women and children go hungry. This is happening, Mr. President, at 
a time during which the United States spends about one-half of 1 
percent of the federal budget on foreign aid. And only one-tenth of 1 
percent of that limited budget aids Africans, with a declining part 
going to agricultural development. If Africa is to achieve any kind of 
food security, international agencies tell us, it must triple its food 
supply by the year 2050. Africa cannot achieve this huge expansion on 
its own.
  The global economy, for better and worse Mr. President, links 
together every nation and every people on this earth. We no longer have 
the option, if we ever did, of closing our doors and shutting out any 
people, let alone an entire continent. Support for the Africa Seeds of 
Hope constitutes support for our own economy, our own people and our 
own principles. It will provide, not just meals and nutrition for a 
week or a month, but the chance for a continent to rise and feed itself 
and eventually gain self-sustenance.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.




                          ____________________