The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that $670 million in food assistance will be given to six countries in Africa and Asia to offset the drop in global food production following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the agencies announced Wednesday.
USAID will use $282 million from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to give out U.S. food commodities to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen.
USDA will provide $388 million in additional funding through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to cover ocean freight transportation, inland transport, internal transport, shipping and handling, and other associated costs.
“Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine, a fellow major agricultural export country, is driving food and energy costs higher for people around the world,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “America’s farmers, ranchers and producers are uniquely positioned through their productivity, and through the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, to help directly feed those around the world impacted by these challenges.”
The trust is a special authority renamed for Congressman Bill Emerson in 1998, that enables USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to respond to unanticipated food crises abroad when other resources are not available. This is the first time since 2014 the U.S. government has used the emergency funding authority.
Sources: NAFB, USDA.