Congressman Chris Smith’s (R-NJ) reauthorization of a landmark food security bill, the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2018 (HR 5129) is scheduled to be marked up on Tuesday in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, bringing it one step closer to a House Floor vote.
“The original Global Food Security Act (GFSA) promoted food security, resilience and nutrition in developing countries in keeping with U.S. national security interests,” Rep. Smith, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, stated. “This successful, bipartisan food assistance policy has saved millions of lives, lifted many families out of poverty, and has helped stabilize countries at risk of food insecurity and the political instability that could result from it.”
Smith is the author of the House analog to the GFSA of 2016. It fought the problem of global hunger by taking successful international food aid policies that spanned multiple administrations and codified them in law. It built upon the Bush Administration’s initiative to end hunger in Africa, as well as the Obama Administration’s Feed the Future Initiative, which was put in place after the global food price crisis of 2007-08 and is still producing results under President Trump.
He recently introduced, with lead cosponsor Rep. Betty McCollum (DFL-MN), the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2018, to reauthorize the law through 2020.
“Through agriculture-led economic development, GFSA has strengthened partner countries’ capacity and lessened their dependence on emergency food assistance. It has also improved efficiency among federal departments and agencies and leveraged the participation of other non-U.S. governmental partners,” Smith said. “Now is the time to reauthorize this landmark legislation.” Currently, there are nearly 800 million hungry people in the world, and food production will have to increase by at least 60 percent as the global population is estimated to exceed nine billion people by 2050.
The pillars of this successful policy are, first, targeted food and nutrition aid for “the first 1,000 days” of a child’s life, as well as for the mother, to ensure the safe birth and continued well-being of children, protect against diseases and stunted growth which can come from malnutrition, and curb maternal mortality rates.
It also promotes and supports deworming initiatives and Water Sanitation Health (WaSH) initiatives to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTD) and ensure that malnutrition is not occurring because of parasitical worms.
The act also promotes food security in the long run through agriculture-led economic development, by investing in small farmers and supporting them with agricultural expertise and access to markets, and increasing crop resiliency and crop yields.
All this is accomplished across government agencies and with the cooperation of NGOs, faith-based organizations, and other aid groups which deal directly with those benefitting from U.S. food aid. The act would strengthen oversight of U.S. food assistance to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent and that U.S. aid is accomplishing its objectives.
“That we are here reauthorizing the Global Food Security Act is a testament to the dedication of numerous committed groups outside Congress that have made food security and nutrition their priority, from advocates to implementers—especially and including faith-based organizations who perhaps work the closest to the small-holder farmers and women who benefit in particular from our food security efforts,” Smith stated. “I thank them for their support and look forward to working with them more in this process.”
