Press Statement
Ambassador Cindy H. McCain
U.S. Mission to the UN Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome
September 1, 2022
We continue to witness the negative global effects of Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine. This is a needless conflict that has exacerbated an already overstretched global food system and further harmed vulnerable populations suffering from the effects of climate change and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The United States continues to focus on supporting those where the need is the greatest and provide additional assistance to address the rapidly growing global food crisis.
I am pleased to announce nearly $80 million in additional humanitarian funding to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to bolster existing emergency and resilience programs in Afghanistan and Ethiopia as well as multiple countries in the Sahel and Coastal West Africa. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States will improve availability and access to food by supplying aid and technical assistance to small-holder farmers and livestock-dependent communities, focusing on wheat and livestock production. These funds will be used to help those most vulnerable – people displaced by ongoing conflict and consecutive climate shocks.
In Ethiopia, $32 million will improve the food security and resilience of vulnerable households affected by conflict in the Tigray region. These funds will go towards the procurement and distribution of crop seeds and fertilizers.
In Afghanistan, $30 million will be allocated to increase the availability and access to food by restoring winter wheat production capacity for small holder farming households and protecting livestock dependent communities most affected by drought.
In Sudan, $15 million will support food security and crop assessments to improve timely and effective response to current and future climate shocks. These funds will also increase immediate access to food through rebuilding livestock productive capacity in mainly female-headed households.
In Burkina Faso, $2 million will protect and rehabilitate livelihoods of conflict-affected communities in rural areas.
The remainder will focus on strengthening national capacities on food security, nutrition, and resilience assessment and analysis as well as regional humanitarian preparedness and response coordination in West Africa and the Sahel.
The United States is a long-term and committed partner to FAO in all its work. Together, we will continue to address the urgent needs of the food crisis while building longer-term resilience around the world. We urge our colleagues around the world to increase their funding also for FAO, the World Food Program (WFP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to meet the unprecedented needs of these organizations caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
To date, the United States has committed an additional $180 million in new funding to FAO, specifically to address the global food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine – $80 million to improve food security and nutrition for vulnerable Afghans and $20 million to alleviate the rising global cost of fertilizer in Guatemala, Honduras, and Zambia.