Good Morning!

Strengthening Local Capacity toBuild Resiliency & Respond to

Food Security Shocks

International Food Aid ConferenceKansas City, MO - April 16, 2008

Benjamin K. HomanPresident / Chief Executive Officer

Food for the HungryChairman, Alliance for Food Aid

www.allianceforfoodaid.com

March 12, 1947

TheTruman Doctrine

March 12, 1947=

$84.5 million

$84.5 million inFood Aid…

to one country:Greece

$84.5 million in1947 dollars

translates intoabout $800 million

in 2008 dollars

We are gratefulfor the release

of the $200 millionfrom the

Bill Emerson Trust

We are also hopefulof a supplemental withat least $600 million

for the Title II programin FY 2008

Plus, we hope that the supplemental will

at least partially replenish – with $100 million or more – the

Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust

The day before the

Truman Doctrinespeech

MeatlessMondays

WheatlessWednesdays

Bipartisan

AShocking

World

A Shocking World

Large portions of Sub-saharan Africa and areas in South Asia continue to struggle on a daily basis

with extreme hunger and poverty.

On the Millennium Development Goal timeline toward 2015, Sub-saharan Africa had made no

gains in the area of per-capita food production. It appears unlikely that the first MDG related to

extreme hunger and poverty will be achieved…unless something changes.

Chronic malnutrition among children remains stubbornly high in many food insecure regions

around the world.

A Shocking World – what we already know

The current food crisis with rising prices creates a situation of extreme hunger in populations that rely primarily on the market to meet their food

needs. As a result, countries such as Haiti are on the verge of anarchy.

Further, many food insecure countries are impacted by other major shocks such as civil

conflict, drought, and HIV and AIDS.

We gather here to talk about the role of food aid in creating a more secure world for those without

enough food.

A Shocking World - continued

For sustainable development to occur, poor, food-insecure communities and households need to have

increased capacity and resiliency to respond to shocks that come their way, whether they be food

price increases, massive insect infestation, accelerated soil erosion, drought, floods, or loss of

assets by way of other catastrophes.

Poor communities often lack the knowledge, skills, means and assets to respond to these shocks. They

are trapped in a downward cycle of shocks, diminished assets, more shocks, followed by

diminished resiliency and further loss of assets.

Community Response to Shock

Many communities that PVOs partner with in our food security programs are learning to respond and to

gain resilience and bounce back.

Developmental food aid plays a critical role in making resilience a reality. Without a significant and stable

level of non-emergency aid, we will not be successful in helping households out of this downward cycle of

misfortune and underdevelopment.

Acting Locally to Create Capacity

There are 3 critical areas that we believe need continual INVESTMENT:

Agricultural productivity and production — for household consumption as well as for markets. The interesting example

of Malawi presented yesterday shows how this strategy is helping them to be net exporters of maize. This cannot be

done with emergency food aid.

Nutrition of women and children. Reducing global and chronic malnutrition among children requires an intensive, long-term

investment in poor, food insecure communities. Non-emergency food aid is absolutely critical to accomplishing this

goal.

Training, education, and capacity and skill building. These efforts require cash resources and an extended time frame.

We will fall short if we do not secure an appropriate $600 million safe-box in the Farm Bill to bring capacity back to FY2002 level of 1 million metric tons for developmental assistance.

Also, the Senate bill improves the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to make sure this reserve of commodities and funds is available at the early signs of a crisis.