Food Security Action Report

United States Demonstrates its Continued Commitment to International Food Security through a Food Security Action Report

Since launching the Roadmap for Global Food Security – Call to Action on May 18, 2022, the United States has continued to partner with governments, UN agencies, non-government organizations, industry, and stakeholders to deliver concrete deliverables that address the international community’s global food security needs.

To take stock of actions in 2022, the United States has provided the below template to voluntarily self-report contributions in line with the seven actions addressed in the Roadmap and encourages the international community to use this template as a model for reporting on food security contributions.  Through regular, transparent reporting, the international community can continue to identify needs and cooperate to address global food insecurity arising from climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic’s supply chain disruptions, and conflict, including Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

1. UN Member States with available resources to make new, additive financial donations to key humanitarian organizations providing immediate life-saving humanitarian assistance, including cash, food and nutrition supplies, health and nutrition programming, water and sanitation, and humanitarian protection to populations at the most severe risk, while at the same time strengthening their resilience to multiple shocks wherever possible.
   1. U.S. Humanitarian Contributions:  Since the beginning of this year, nearly $8.2 billion in humanitarian assistance, including:
      1. $2 billion in new U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian assistance through the end of 2022.
      2. A portion of the nearly $5.9 billion in World Food Program (WFP) contributions.
      3. $200 million in USAID humanitarian assistance to UNICEF to respond to the extraordinary needs in addressing severe malnutrition in children, which includes procurement of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic Food (July 2022).
      4. $68 million through continued partnership between USAID and WFP to support the procurement, transport, and storage of up to 150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat to address acute food insecurity (August 2022).
2. UN Member States with available resources, including those with large emergency food stockpiles, to provide in-kind donations and necessary associated costs to key humanitarian organizations for transportation and delivery of food commodities, based on assessed needs by governments of affected countries or humanitarian organizations.
   1. U.S. Investments for in-kind Food Aid:  Coordinated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and USAID, as part of the $8.2 billion in humanitarian assistance summarized above, the United States announced $670 million in food assistance to countries experiencing enhanced food insecurity through the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (April 2022).  Contributions to the Bill Emerson Trust facilitate commercial, market-value purchases of grain used in food aid, providing an important and non-trade distorting source of in-kind food aid.
3. All UN Member States to keep their food and agricultural markets open and to avoid unjustified restrictive measures, such as export bans on food or fertilizer, which increase market volatility and threaten food security and nutrition at a global scale, especially among those in vulnerable situations already experiencing increased poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, and call on all members to ensure safe maritime transportation in the Black Sea.
   1. U.S. Agricultural Exports:  The United States remains one of the world’s largest exporters of agricultural goods.  The United States has continued to maintain an open market by avoiding unnecessary export restrictions, thereby facilitating access to goods that are critical to global food security and benefitting consumers, farmers, and industry worldwide.
4. UN Member States with available resources to temporarily increase fertilizer production in order to compensate shortages, support fertilizer innovations and promote methods to maximize fertilizer efficiency, invest in diversifying sustainable production of fertilizers, and increase the use of residues as fertilizers to create longer-term supply chain resilience for this key input.
   1. U.S. Fertilizer Investments:  The White House announced a $500 million investment in domestic fertilizer production to lower costs and boost availability for farmers, so they can obtain the inputs they need at prices they can afford to maximize yields (May 2022).
   2. Global Fertilizer Challenge:  The White House announced the “Global Fertilizer Challenge” at the Leaders meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, which aims to raise $100 million in new funding to increase fertilizer efficiency by COP27 (June 2022).
   3. Public-Private Partnership Delivers Fertilizer:  $20 million in free fertilizer from Yara International, one of the world’s largest fertilizer companies, enough to support 100,000 farmers.  USAID is working with Yara to help deliver the fertilizer to reduce smallholder input costs (July 2022).
5. UN Member States with available resources to increase efforts to support the sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems to make them more resilient and inclusive of smallholder farmers, and strengthen the infrastructure, logistical support, and innovation needed to cultivate, store, and distribute food.
   1. Expansion of Feed the Future Initiative:  The U.S. government’s flagship global food security initiative is expanding its global footprint in eight new target countries, in Africa that were also most vulnerable to the impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The new target countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia.  This increases the number of target countries from 12 to 20. (June 2022).
   2. U.S-GAFSP Investment:  The United States contributed $150 million to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), which invests in smallholder farmers and producer organizations in the poorest countries.  Thanks to the U.S. contribution, along with support from other donors, GAFSP is launching a new Call for Proposals to respond to the urgent needs of the current crisis and to support resilient, climate-smart agriculture and food systems (June 2022).
   3. The Sustainable Productivity Growth (SPG) Coalition:  The U.S.-initiated SPG Coalition has mobilized more than 100 members including countries, farmer groups and industry from every corner of the globe to accelerate the transition to more sustainable food systems through sustainable agricultural productivity growth.  The Coalition serves as a platform for building collaborations and sharing and disseminating information about best practices, lessons learned, and innovative, evidence-based approaches to improve agricultural productivity growth (September 2021-present).
   4. USDA announces “Food Systems Transformation Framework”:  USDA has announced a framework to transform U.S. food systems to benefit consumers, producers and rural communities by providing more options, increasing access, and creating new, more, and better markets for small and mid-size producers.  This includes $43 million for grants and cooperative agreements supporting urban agriculture and innovative production (June 2022).
   5. Agriculture Resilience Initiative-Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine): USAID’s Initiative will bolster Ukrainian agriculture production and exports and help alleviate the global food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. USAID has contributed $100 million in previously announced funding ($35 million from the $760 million of investments in food security described below) and seeks to leverage an additional $150 million for the Initiative, including from fellow donors and the private sector, with an overall target of $250 million (July 2022).
   6. U.S. McGovern-Dole Investments:  Through the USDA McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, the United States announced $220 million in eight new school feeding projects that are expected to benefit more than a million children in food-insecure countries in Africa and East Asia (May 2022).
   7. Food for Progress:  Through the Food for Progress Program, a partnership between the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, non-governmental organizations, and foreign governments, the United States announced $178 million for seven international development projects to support the promotion of climate-smart agriculture and facilitate trade.  The projects will be conducted on four continents to strengthen agricultural systems, boost trade capacity, and address food insecurity, including the root causes of migration in Central America (August 2022).
   8. Last-Mile Delivery Investment:  The White House announced $140 million in new food security funding, subject to Congressional notification, to accelerate last-mile delivery of agricultural tools, technologies, and production methods that will help smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa boost their productivity, efficiency, and incomes (September 2022).
   9. U.S. sustainable food assistance:  $760 million in investments in sustainable food assistance to strengthen food systems and mitigate medium-term impacts on food security (May 2022-present).  Examples of specific investments include:
      1. $15 million to support the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) African Emergency Food Production Facility (AEFPF) to increase the production of climate-adapted wheat, corn, rice, and soybeans over the next four growing seasons in Africa.
      2. $10 million for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Crisis Response Initiative. This initiative is focused on protecting livelihoods and building resilience in rural communities in the Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, the Sahel, Central Asia and North Africa.
      3. $28 million in new food security assistance to Caribbean countries through the United States and CARICOM Caribbean Zero Hunger Plan to promote food and nutrition security in the Caribbean.
      4. $20 million to alleviate the rising global cost of fertilizer by using targeted soil mapping in Guatemala, Honduras, and Sub-Saharan Africa, through a partnership between the United States and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
   10. U.S-Malawi Compact:  The United States and the Government of Malawi will sign and implement the $350 million Malawi Transport and Land Compact this year through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The grant’s main project is the $245 million Accelerated Growth Corridors Project which will seek to help farmer livelihoods by improving the link from farms to markets in rural areas—specifically, poor rural infrastructure and policy, institutional, and regulatory issues affecting the transport sector. It is expected this project will benefit an estimated 1.5 million Malawians (September 2022).
6. All UN Member States to increase their investments in research to develop and implement science-based and climate-resilient agricultural innovations, including seeds, that contribute to building sustainable and resilient agricultural sectors and food systems.
   1. Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate):  Launched by the United States and the United Arab Emirates at COP26, AIM for Climate has mobilized over 220 government and non-government partners and galvanized an increased investment of $4 billion in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation to address challenges at the intersection of food insecurity and climate change (November 2021-Present).
   2. Summit of the Americas:  The Agricultural Producers Declaration affirmed five countries would take actions to stabilize food prices, sustainably maximize agricultural yields, and build more resilient, safe, and sustainable global food systems for the future.  Plans include promotion of best practices to boost farmers’ crop yields and enhance sustainable agricultural production (June 2022).
   3. U.S.-Ukraine Agriculture Memorandum of Understanding (MOU):  USDA announced an MOU with Ukraine to establish a three-year partnership for the consistent exchange of information and expertise regarding crop production, emerging technologies, climate-smart practices, food security, and supply chain issues to boost productivity and enhance both agricultural sectors (June 2022).
   4. U.S. Climate-Smart Commodities and Rural Projects:  USDA announced an investment of up to $2.8 billion investment for 70 projects under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, which will create market opportunities for American commodities produced using climate-smart production practices.  A second pool of funding will be announced later this year, with anticipated investment reaching over $3 billion (September 2022).
7. All UN Member States and regional organizations to closely monitor markets affecting food systems, including futures markets, to ensure full transparency, and to share reliable and timely data and information on global food market developments, especially through the relevant international organizations.
   1. U.S. Promotes Transparent Market Data:  As the incoming Chair to the Agricultural Marketing Information System (AMIS), the United States issued a statement on our intent to work together with colleagues from the world’s principal food trading countries to promote market transparency, ensure the smooth functioning of international food markets, facilitate green and blue corridors for the shipment of grain out of Ukraine, and prevent the conflict in Ukraine from turning into a global food crisis (May 2022).