This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Assistant Administrator for Legislative and Public Affairs, Jill Buckley
Growing Global: International Agriculture and Economic Development Summit
Chicago, Illinois, May 29, 1997
U.S. Agency for International Development
Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here today and it is always
nice to be back in Chicago. It is a very fitting time to talk to you
about America's role in the world. Yesterday in the Netherlands
President Clinton and European leaders gathered to celebrate two
important hallmarks of freedom, the 50th anniversary of the
Marshall Plan and the upcoming expansion of NATO.
The Marshall Plan is often called the most successful foreign
policy initiative ever undertaken by the United States. It laid the
groundwork for the bold, brave steps which had to be taken to
help Western Europe pull itself out of the tragedy and chaos of
World War II. When the Marshall Plan was first proposed, there was strong
opposition in the United States. One columnist wrote that
believing U.S. aid would work was "like believing that the
Atlantic could be bailed out with a soup ladle." Some people
called it "money down a rathole." Opposition in our Congress
was considerable. Polls indicated that only one third of
Americans supported U.S. participation in a European recovery
program. Fortunately, the skeptics did not prevail. George
Marshall, and others like him, convinced the American people
that peace and stability in Europe were an investment we could
not afford to neglect. And they were right.
Today, when we look at the shape of our international
engagement, we see things like expanding NATO, helping the
formerly communist nations achieve free markets and free
political systems, supporting international agricultural research,
and combatting poverty and malnutrition in the developing world.
What we are doing around the world today is just as important to
the future of this nation as the Marshall Plan was after the second
World War. What we are doing today is investing in a future of
economic prosperity and peaceful relations between nations.
The Marshall Plan was a massive undertaking, and it makes
our current efforts seem remarkably modest in comparison. In
today's dollars, U.S. economic assistance -- in 1949 alone -- was
more than 53 billion dollars. These aid levels amounted to about
1.5 percent of total U.S. gross national product. Today, foreign
assistance is only one-tenth of one percent of our GNP and we
spend less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget on
foreign assistance. But we get a great deal out of
this targeted investment, particularly in promoting agriculture and
in combatting hunger.
Over the past quarter century, the percentage of the
chronically undernourished population in the world has been cut
in half. During that same time, the number of undernourished
has been reduced by over 100 million despite a doubling of the
world's population. USAID has made a major contribution to
improving the food status of the developing world through its
support for agricultural research, policy reforms, health care and
family planning programs.
The recent World Food Summit was a major success in
increasing awareness of the serious problem of food insecurity.
High officials of one hundred eighty six governments endorsed a
comprehensive plan of action. However, the Summit was only a
means toward an end. And the bad news is that there are still
over 800 million chronically undernourished -- one seventh of the
world's population. Nowhere is the problem worse than in
Africa where one in every three people is undernourished and
where the situation may worsen unless a vastly more effective
effort is mounted. The nations at the Food Summit committed
themselves to reducing by half the number of undernourished in
the world by the year 2015.
The U.S. government -- in a unique effort combining all of
the major departments with interests in food security -- has united
to work to eliminate hunger both in the United States and the
world. We hope citizens and organizations all over America will
join us in this effort. The food security challenge will effect us
all and government alone cannot feed the two billion people who
will be added to the world's population over the next 20 years.
We think that we know some of the key elements for
success. Those countries that have demonstrated the most
progress in achieving food security are those that have seriously
pursued sound economic policies, while focusing government
investments in health and education.
The United States intends to share our expertise with
selected countries wishing to review and change their national
policies to improve food security. Those countries that have
demonstrated the most progress in achieving food security have
also invested in agricultural research. Technology, as our own
farmers know, has been a driving force for change.
It is estimated that technologies developed by the system of
the international agricultural research institutes we helped set up
25 years ago have been responsible for feeding an additional one
billion people in this growing world. The United States wants to
enhance U.S. government support for research and technology
development in agriculture because it will help us meet the food
security problem abroad and it will help our farmers at home as
well.
We will pursue the food security agenda through the use of
agricultural programs, development assistance and food aid. We
will employ an integrated approach to sustainable development,
with a strong emphasis on those countries that show a good-faith
willingness to adopt necessary policy reforms. And we intend to
continue support for international efforts to respond to and
prevent humanitarian crises that create emergency food aid needs.
I feel quite strongly that we can combat hunger in the
developing world, promote agricultural development and
strengthen America's economy at the same time. These are
mutually reinforcing goals.
Again and again, we have seen American food assistance
and support for agricultural programs not only directly benefit a
host of American farmers, shippers and handlers -- we have seen
it save literally millions of lives and help numerous societies
become better and more stable trading partners in the process.
Last year alone, USAID purchased more than 59 million dollars
worth of food from Illinois farmers for use in our programs
around the world.
As you heard this morning from Phil Pardey, American
farmers and consumers also benefit from the new crop varieties
developed at the centers, from which the majority of wheat and
rice in American fields derives.
We have seen unprecedented growth in the productivity of
the global agricultural economy. Total output has risen rapidly
and overall prices have steadily declined. American farmers have
led the way -- and they have done so in partnership with the U.S.
government, U.S universities and their excellent research, and the
dynamic private sector of this country. The results are
impressive. Forty percent of all exports, and about 50 percent of
all agricultural exports, from the United States go to developing
countries.
Agriculture contributes a $22 billion surplus to the U.S.
balance of payments. Between 1990-1994, U.S. exports to
developing countries increased by almost 40 percent, from $140
billion to $197 billion. Growth in U.S. agricultural exports to
developing countries over the next few years is expected to
average 9 percent a year, almost twice the growth in sales to
developed countries.
There is a direct link between foreign assistance to support
agriculture and export opportunities for donor countries. There is
an increasing body of evidence that growing economies in the
developing world directly bolster America's agricultural economy
-- even when the growth in developing economies is driven by
increased agricultural production. A recent study by the
International Food Policy Research Institute found that each dollar
invested in agricultural research for developing countries
generated over four dollars of additional imports by these nations.
Agricultural growth multiplies through the economy. Even
though foreign assistance helps production increase in developing
countries, this increased production usually can not meet the
increased demand for goods and services associated with rising
incomes. Studies have shown when a poor person's income
increases much of this money is spent on food. Thus, U.S.
agricultural exports increase at the same time we are helping
nations stave off hunger.
In February, the Commission on International Trade,
Development and Cooperation, a group made up of prominent
agricultural experts and economists and chaired by your luncheon
speaker, Whitney MacMillan, issued a report that noted
developing nations' "economic growth, trade liberalization and
stability...are just as important, if not more so, to the economic
well being of U.S. agriculture as the provisions of traditional
domestic farm policy."
In short, all of you are part of the continuing agricultural
miracle that allows a tiny fraction of our people to produce not
only enough food for America, but for much of the rest of the
world as well. You represent a vast store of knowledge,
research and production capability. USAID is delighted to have
partners like you in the effort to spur global agricultural growth
that will meet the needs of the next century.
The Commission on International Trade, Development and
Cooperation also identified four primary reasons millions of
people lack access to the food they desperately need:
The first was poverty, where people are simply too poor to
purchase the food they need.
The second obstacle was bad policies and underdeveloped
infrastructure which cause countries to be unable to move, market
or process food.
The this principle are was trade barriers that impeded either
imports or exports.
The last major obstacle to increasing production and
decreasing hunger was political instability and violent conflicts;
the Rwandas and Afghanistans of the world.
USAID addresses all four causes -- plus one the commission
did not mention -- rapid population growth that is out of balance
with resources.
The commission's fourth category -- political instability and
violent conflict -- has increasingly been a major cause of hunger,
malnutrition and even starvation in this decade. The United
Nations has dramatically increased its calls for emergency food
aid, mostly because of political conflict. As more and more food
aid goes for emergency relief, less is available for use in the
development assistance that helps countries become
self-sustaining.
Our Administrator, Brian Atwood, is concerned about this
trend. He promised last year to put greater emphasis on
agriculture. Funds for the international agriculture research
centers were increased by $3.6 million in the 1997 budget. If
President Clinton's requests are approved by Congress, USAID's
overall budget will receive very modest additional increases for
1998.
A major item in that increase is the Africa Food Security
Initiative. The first year of that initiative includes $30 million to
address the growing food and poverty crisis in Africa.
One-third of the malnourished people in the world are in
Africa -- as are one-half of the violent conflicts that so often lead
to malnutrition and starvation. Malnutrition is an underlying cause
of half the deaths among pre-school children. Without concerted
effort on the part of Africans and donors, the current shocking
numbers of malnourished children will sharply increase.
This initiative will also help avert future conflicts, which
also serves U.S. interests. In addition to the human suffering,
conflicts that have broken out around the world since the Cold
War have resulted in 27 deployments of U.S. troops.
The cost of not acting is staggering. If current trends
continue, the cost of additional food aid alone for the 15 targeted
countries would be $900 million annually by the year 2005. In
addition, averting potential crises would save, on average, $500
million to $1 billion each.
The human cost of doing nothing would be malnutrition for
tens of millions of children and adults.
African agricultural development will also bring dividends to
the United States as greater economic growth produces more
purchasing power, which in the long term creates new markets
for U.S. products. In addition, U.S. farmers and consumers
stand to gain from future international agricultural research aimed
at Africa and greater access to genetic resources.
Unless more economic opportunities open in rural areas,
more and more people in the developing world will crowd into
the slums of megacities. Such incredible concentrations of human
misery are ideal breeding grounds for drugs, terrorism, emerging
diseases, and future conflicts, all of which threaten the security of
the people of the United States.
Food security is a critical antidote to chaos.
I fully understand that the challenges of building food
security in the least developed countries, especially in
sub-Saharan Africa, are daunting. The percentage of the world's
poor living in Africa was 16 percent in the mid-1980s. By the
year 2000, it will have soared to 30 percent.
But there are also exciting and hopeful trends. One is the
increase in trained agricultural scientists. Where there were only
152 in Africa in 1960, there were 8,000 by 1990, trained largely
with USAID funds. Africa is undergoing major political and
economic changes that -- if supported -- will project sub-Saharan
countries into the global economy in a substantial way.
Many new leaders are showing a commitment to economic
growth that helps all of their people. Where they are willing to
open up markets, processes and opportunity, their countries have
experienced some of the fastest economic growth rates in the
world. Once considered a basketcase, Mali's economy grew at 8
percent last year.
The African Continent as a whole has experienced two
consecutive years of economic growth per capita for the first time
since the 1970s. The World Bank forecasts continued growth of
3.8 percent annually -- if Africa can avoid new conflicts and
resolve old ones. Carefully planned and administered aid can
help Africa reach its great potential at last in the 21st century.
In conclusion, just let me say that I believe that If we can
capture the kind of intellectual ability, energy and capital
investments that fueled the agricultural miracle in the United
States, I believe we can succeed with our efforts not only in
Africa, but around the world. America's agricultural tradition
has always been a world leader, and on this, the 50th anniversary
of the Marshall Plan, it is only fitting we maintain that
leadership. I thank you and look forward to working with you in
the future.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 18, 2001
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