[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 7049-7050]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      INTERNATIONAL FOOD SECURITY

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my enthusiastic 
support for our efforts to elevate international food security 
commitments through the G8, which is being held this weekend in 
Maryland.
  I understand that President Obama has invited the Presidents of 
Benin, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Tanzania to participate in the summit and 
strategize on ways in which we can all work together to accelerate 
progress on food security. With over 1 billion poor and hungry people 
around the world, there is no time to wait.
  Just 3 years ago, in L-Aquila, Italy, G8 leaders committed to support 
developing-country plans for agriculture to the tune of $7 billion a 
year over 3 years. African governments also committed to allocating 10 
percent of their budgets to support agriculture, because they recognize 
that three-fourths of Africans make a living from agriculture.
  This week we expect the G8 leaders to focus on private sector 
investment, donor coordination, innovation, and partnership. I see this 
as a natural next step in which we strive to amplify the truly historic 
commitments that we have made to ending world hunger.
  As Secretary Clinton said in 2009, ``We have the resources to give 
every person in the world the tools they need to feed themselves and 
their children. So the question is not whether we can end hunger. It's 
whether we will.''
  We must harness the good will of the private sector, do a better job 
of coordinating among ourselves in the

[[Page 7050]]

 donor community, and show the American people that we are doing 
development better. With such a limited foreign assistance budget, 
getting the most out of every dollar that we spend is vital if we are 
going to beat global hunger and human suffering.
  To that end, I am very pleased that the U.S. will be following up on 
not only what the members of the G8 committed but what they actually 
delivered. In order for our new food security initiative to succeed, 
all pledges must have clear accountability mechanisms.
  I believe that our own Feed the Future Program, our global hunger and 
food security initiative, does just that. Feed the Future focuses on 
small farmers, particularly women. It helps countries to develop their 
agriculture sectors to generate opportunities for broad-based economic 
growth and trade, which in turn support increased incomes and help 
reduce hunger. It is strengthening strategic coordination to align the 
efforts of the private sector, civil society, and multilateral 
institutions. And it is delivering on sustained and accountable 
commitments through robust monitoring and evaluation systems. I look 
forward to hearing more about the Feed the Future success stories in 
the months to come, as USAID officials develop and release their 
accountability reports.
  There are a few other elements of the program that I would just like 
to underscore as someone who cares very deeply about the status of 
women. First, Feed the Future developed and launched the Women's 
Empowerment in Agriculture Index, a research method which measures the 
quantity and quality of gender integrated programs. This is essential 
is we are to continue designing better development programs.
  Second, Feed the Future has launched a fund to advance innovative 
approaches to promote gender equality in agriculture and land use and 
integrate gender effectively into agricultural development and food 
security programs. And third, Feed the Future has harnessed the 
capabilities of other U.S. Government partners such as the Department 
of Agriculture to develop science-based solutions to many of the 
problems faced by women farmers.
  Feed the Future is already working with the private sector in Africa; 
just recently USAID announced a unique trilateral partnership between 
PepsiCo, USAID, and the World Food Program. Through this partnership 
they will provide a nutritionally fortified feeding product while 
helping to build long-term economic stability for smallholder chickpea 
farmers in Ethiopia by involving them directly in PepsiCo's product 
supply chain.
  Ending global hunger is a monumental task. But when the leaders of 
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, and 
the United States join together with our African partners and the most 
powerful private sector and civil society organizations in the world, I 
believe it is one that we can achieve.

                          ____________________