| ||||
|
|
U.S. food aid programs under scrutiny
WASHINGTON (DTN)--House Agriculture Chairman Goodlatte and a key U.S. Agency for International Development official June 16 vigorously defended the U.S. food aid programs that the European Union is insisting should be turned into cash assistance if it is going to put its agricultural export subsidies on the table in the agriculture talks in the World Trade Organization Doha Round.
At a hearing on Iraqi agriculture and trade issues, Goodlatte, R-VA, said, "Each year 10 million people die from hunger and malnutrition. I am deeply troubled by the proposals of these countries which would effectively end the U.S. food aid program, and am committed to ensuring that the bounty of America's farmers and ranchers can be shared with the needy around the world."
When Goodlatte asked William J. Garvelink, the AID senior deputy assistant administrator for democracy, conflict and humanitarian assistance, what would happen if U.S. food aid programs end, Garvelink replied, "The first thing that would happen is that people would will die."
Garvelink added that 840 million people around the world need food aid and that the United States provides 56 percent of the food to the U.N. World Food Program and covers the majority of WFP's operating costs. The European countries, Garvelink added, "are long on talk and short on action," particularly in the current food crises in the Sudan and other parts of Africa.
"Most countries that require food aid are failed states," Garvelink said, adding that he believes the food programs are also "critical" to national security as the United States attempts to help those countries "emerge."
European officials argue that the United States should provide cash assistance so that food for food aid programs could be purchased from any country, but U.S. humanitarian groups say they fear Congress would not provide money to buy food from other countries.
Lee Schatz, a USDA official with responsibility for Iraq, also testified that the USDA is already analyzing how to resume U.S. agricultural credit guarantees for Iraq.
Meanwhile, EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler at an international meat conference in Winnipeg, Canada Tuesday repeated demands that the United States eliminate its export credit guarantees and that Canada and Australia eliminate their Wheat boards.
Fischler said the Canadians "say they are not willing to completely dismantle their export support tools. The Americans say the same about their export credits. This is hard to understand. Without export subsidies, or export credits, what point is there to keep the government guarantee for losses or the export monopoly status?"
Allen Johnson, the chief U.S. agriculture trade negotiator declined in a meeting with reporters late Wednesday to comment on the foreign policy implications of changes to the food aid and agricultural credit guarantee programs.
"I'm not getting into foreign policy," Johnson said. "That's not my job." But Johnson added, "As long was we have credit guarantee programs, we're going to use them."
He also said other countries would have to understand the need for agricultural credits for purchases when "the markets have completely broken down." Johnson, who traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, last weekend with Trade Representative Bob Zoellick to meet with the EU, Australian, Brazilian and Indian negotiators also said there is a "feeling in the room" of negotiators that changes in food aid should eliminate commercial displacement.
EU officials have said publicly, however, that they believe all food aid should be in the form of cash assistance.
Date: 6/22/04
Copyright 1995-2008. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com
 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
