AID cancels commodities purchase as funds run low

The U.S. Agency for International Development has canceled plans to buy commodities for nonemergency food aid in December because of "a lack of resources," AID Food for Peace Director Lauren Landis confirmed late Thursday.

Food aid advocates said that would increase hunger in Africa and Asia if the Bush administration does not act quickly, and they urged the Bush administration to make immediate use of the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust and ask for a supplemental appropriation next year.

Ellen Levinson, executive director of the Coalition for Food Aid, which represents private voluntary organizations that depend on U.S. food aid to operate development and anti-HIV/AIDS programs, said her groups had been informed they would not get shipments in December.

Fiscal 2005 appropriations bills are expected to appropriate the $1.185 billion requested by President Bush for Title II food aid programs. But owing to emergencies and civil unrest in many poor countries, AID has determined it would need an additional $824 million to keep the traditional U.S. commitment of meeting 35 to 40 percent of emergency food aid needs around the world, Levinson wrote in a memo Wednesday to humanitarian and commodity groups.

"If additional funds are not allocated immediately, there will be a break in food aid pipelines in December and many programs will be disrupted," Levinson said. "This will exacerbate the suffering of millions in Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Uganda, and Eritrea."

The Emerson Trust -- named for the late Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Mo., who made hunger relief a personal priority during his tenure -- is managed by the Agriculture Department and can be used to purchase additional commodities without additional appropriations or congressional approval.

Both the Coalition for Food Aid and U.S. Wheat Associates, a wheat marketing group, said Thursday the Bush administration should immediately make use of the trust as well as seek supplemental funding.

Levinson said the Emerson Trust holds 1.6 million metric tons of wheat and has $87 million available for the procurement of other commodities. But Levinson said the Bush administration has not asked USDA to approve the release of wheat and money in the trust or asked Congress for additional money for food aid needs.

U.S. Wheat Associates said while the Emerson Trust was established to maintain the continuity of the food aid programs during times of tight supplies and high commodity prices, it would support the use of its wheat reserves to respond to this "dire" need.

"While we deplore the lack of planning that has caused these supply problems, we cannot stand by knowing that innocent people are suffering when good wheat, owned by the U.S. government, is available for donation," the statement said.