The US department of agriculture (USDA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will distribute $1bn (R19.22bn) in US commodities to countries with high hunger rates, the agencies said on Thursday.
The countries that will receive the aid — including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, South Sudan, Sudan and Haiti — are among the most stricken by hunger, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Global hunger is getting worse, with 745-million more people moderately to severely hungry worldwide in 2023 than in 2015, leaving the world off-track to meet a sustainable development goal of ending hunger by 2030, according to the United Nations.
The causes of expanded hunger are global conflict, climate change, and the long tail of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic for the world's poor, the UN says.
Hunger is rising the most in sub-Saharan Africa.
US to spend $1bn on food aid abroad amid global hunger crisis
Image: 123RF/addtodsaporn
The US department of agriculture (USDA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will distribute $1bn (R19.22bn) in US commodities to countries with high hunger rates, the agencies said on Thursday.
The countries that will receive the aid — including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, South Sudan, Sudan and Haiti — are among the most stricken by hunger, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Global hunger is getting worse, with 745-million more people moderately to severely hungry worldwide in 2023 than in 2015, leaving the world off-track to meet a sustainable development goal of ending hunger by 2030, according to the United Nations.
The causes of expanded hunger are global conflict, climate change, and the long tail of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic for the world's poor, the UN says.
Hunger is rising the most in sub-Saharan Africa.
CONTEXT
The US-grown commodities to be purchased and sent abroad include grains and beans, the USDA said.
The USDA will buy the commodities and USAID will distribute them, the agencies said.
The US is also facing high hunger rates in the wake of the pandemic, and USDA in 2022 spent $2.3bn (R44.21bn) on food purchases for schools and food banks.
KEY QUOTE
“With many millions of people in dire need worldwide, the US agricultural sector is well positioned to provide life-saving food assistance,” agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
Reuters
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