Talking Points for J. Brian Atwood, 2/26/99

This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.

Talking Points for J. Brian Atwood, USAID Administrator
at the Board for Food and International Development
February 26, 1999

As many of you know, President Clinton has nominated me to be U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. I am honored by the nomination and I look forward to the new challenges in Brazil. After almost six turbulent years, I know I will greatly miss this agency and fighting for the existence, independence and integrity of USAID, and for the resources this agency needs to carry out its mission. By Washington standards, six years is a very long time to stay in a job like this – or, as it sometimes seemed – to stay in front of the same firing squad.

It is only because of the help of dedicated allies like this group that I am still standing -- and this agency is still standing. I stayed because I share your commitment to development and to making a difference in the lives of the people of developing nations. I know I will be a better ambassador because of what I have learned from you.

At this time, I do not know when my Senate hearings will be held or when I might be confirmed for my new post. For however long I am here, I intend to continue to press for the authority, flexibility and resources to carry out this agency’s vital mission.

In any case this IS probably the last time I will stand before this BIFAD board. Let me express my deep appreciation to the members of BIFAD and say what a great personal pleasure it has been to have worked so closely with Ed Schuh. You cannot know Ed without coming to appreciate the role of agriculture in spurring overall economic development. I look forward to continuing my contact with Ed when I take up my new duties in Brazil. In addition to his nearly 40 years of professional experience in Brazil, he has in-laws there and he is still closely involved with agriculture in Brazil and the Brazilian National Research Organization.

BIFAD and others in the agricultural community have invested considerable effort in helping us refocus on the development linkages between agriculture, economic growth and food security. USAID will continue to rely on your help.

I have always appreciated your advice and your activism, even though I have not always been able to do exactly what you urged. I am aware that there is tremendous work we could be doing in agriculture and other areas of economic growth if we had adequate funds. Unfortunately, I have had to preside over a period of constant competition for our too-limited resources.

I hope we have now turned that corner and this agency will be better able in the future to take full advantage of agriculture’s potential for advancing and underpinning sustainable development.

Despite the turn-around over the past two years from sharp decline to improved agricultural funding, I remain concerned about our level of activity in the agricultural sector. In the past year, hunger has been returning to places where we thought we had won the battle. There also have been severe set-backs to significant progress that had been made in others that had not yet come as far.
The United States is committed to reducing worldwide malnutrition by half within the next 20 years. USAID is determined not only to continue to respond to emergency needs, but to keep that long-term commitment.

At the beginning of last year, there were roughly 800 million malnourished people in the world. New conflicts in Africa, as well as severe weather and other natural disasters around the world, have had disastrous effects on food production in many places. The hurricane devastation in Central America disrupted large segments of agriculture, roads, markets and employment.

The continuing impact of the Asian financial upheavals -- which have affected countries as far away as Russia and Brazil -- have sharply curtailed purchases from what had been fast-growing markets for American agricultural products. Today, huge numbers of additional people are threatened with malnourishment.
As you heard yesterday, agriculture is a vital part of the rebuilding effort in Nicaragua and Honduras -- where not just crops, but the land itself, has undergone severe damage.

As with housing and infrastructure, that rebuilding must not merely seek to replicate what was, it must make it better. It must also be more responsive to the needs of the poor -- especially poor rural communities and farm families who had largely been left out of previous development.

In congressional testimony and public speeches, we have continued to stress the critical role of agriculture in promoting economic development in low-income countries. Looking back over my time at USAID, I believe the last few years have included some important agriculture-related achievements.

As you know, we signaled our recommitment to agriculture and food security by adding agricultural development to the Agency strategic goal of economic growth. We also put one of our finest Foreign Service officers, Emmy Simmons, in charge of the renamed Center for Economic Growth and Agricultural Development, which houses the Office of Agriculture and Food Security.

With BIFAD’s assistance, we participated in the interagency process before and after the 1996 World Food Summit and helped to sustain the involvement of the nongovernmental and agribusiness sectors.

This interagency process produced the U.S. Action Plan on Food Security, which – if aggressively implemented will help to end hunger wherever it occurs – whether in Africa, Asia or our own inner cities.
USAID is opening new windows to collaboration with the U.S. agribusiness community and to reach out to educate the public about agriculture and development. One key example of our agricultural outreach efforts is an important Lessons Without Borders regional conference in Iowa coming up in March. It is titled "Global Agriculture and the American Midwest: A Win-Win Exchange."

This conference will bring together high profile speakers like Secretary Dan Glickman and Senator Tom Harkin with leaders of developing countries and with Midwest farmers who have volunteered overseas. Conference sessions will be video-linked to Iowa schools and community colleges -- part of a curriculum package on international agriculture and foreign assistance. Businesses will be able to sign up on the spot for trade leads and specific export and investment information.

Our agency staff has also been working with representatives of the university community to revise and update sections of Title XII.

BIFAD has repeatedly raised concerns about the downward trend in USAID technical staffing. I have shared those concerns about reductions in the number and percentage of USAID's agricultural officers. In fact, we are in the process of addressing this issue. For the first time in several years, we will be adding new agricultural officers to our permanent staff. We are now in the initial stages of selection to fill the first four posts.

In addition, we will bring program-funded agricultural technical staff on board from other sources including Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignments, AAAS fellows, and agreements with other agencies.

We have not ignored the pleas of BIFAD and other organizations – along with several members of Congress – to seek additional funds for our agricultural activities. Our FY 1999 budget for agriculture in all accounts is $306.4, continuing the upward trend. As you know, our FY 1998 agricultural funding – at $293 million -- was a significant improvement over our 1997 budget for agriculture of $244.75 million.
We increased our support for International Agricultural Research Centers from $22.4 million in 1996 to $26 million in 1997, and to $26.37 million in 1998. [FY1999 still not firm.]

I know there are concerns about the agriculture budget for the year 2000. There are increases for agriculture in our request for the Development Assistance account. The problem is with the ESF budget, and we hope to work with you and the State Department to address these issues.

I am also aware of the concerns in the university community -- stemming, in part from past decreases in agency funding, although we have had increases in the last two years.

We are working to revitalize our relationships with the university community and to strengthen our ties -- not only with larger universities, but also with smaller colleges and institutions. The establishment of new linkages between the U.S. higher education community and host country institutions is one evidence of this revitalization. The long record of successful agricultural innovation and the leadership of the best and brightest in the U.S. university community gives me confidence that USAID can continue to play a vital role in agricultural research for the future.

USAID provided $97 million to the CRSPs during the past five years. After hitting a low point of $15 million in 1996, the agency has built back its support to $18 million in 1999.

International agricultural research – with major support from USAID -- is one of the great success stories of this century. Many of the agricultural miracles, both in the United States and worldwide, have come as direct or indirect results of the commitment of U.S. universities, particularly the Land Grant colleges, to agriculture and food security.

We know that the size of the world’s hungry population is not going to diminish without additional and more focused efforts. We also know that improving nutritional outcomes requires combining increased food availability with providing mothers with specific knowledge about child nutrition.

We also know the great need for agricultural research that can create breakthroughs akin to those of the Green Revolution. We must continue to develop new strains of crops suited to the dry areas which did not share in the benefits of the Green Revolution, as well as keeping up with pests, crop diseases, and population growth.

The under-investment in agricultural research for more than a decade may have already slowed the flow of benefits which can be expected from publicly funded research.

We are also pursuing cost-effective ways to eliminate micronutrient deficiencies which contribute to the deaths of many children in developing countries. These deficiencies also can result in lifelong disability, poor educational outcomes and lowered long-term productivity. Last year we launched an enhanced effort to attack Vitamin A deficiencies. We have forged new alliances with public, private and nongovernmental organizations to combat this deficiency.

Agribusiness is a key element of this effort to prevent 1 million child deaths and 500,000 cases of childblindness per year.

Food Security is a fundamental emphasis in USAID’s ongoing Greater Horn of Africa Initiative, and in FY 1998, we launched the new Africa Food Security Initiative.

The more we understand the linkage between civil conflict, democratic participation, education, the rule of law, women’s roles, and food security, the clearer it becomes how crucial these are to eliminating hunger and malnutrition.

Climate change – and the resulting major loss of crops and agricultural infrastructures – is another growing concern.

Non-agricultural job creation and income production, as well as strengthening market ties with the developing world, are essential not only for developing economies, but for the growth of U.S. agriculture. As the current suffering in many sectors of U.S. agriculture demonstrate, people without adequate income cannot buy American food.

As I complete my work here, I am very proud that worldwide, USAID’s agriculture programs are having some impressive results.

These include training farmers and researchers and strengthening indigenous agricultural institutions in developing countries. We are providing farmers the right incentives, more sustainable farming practices, improved crops.

I have reviewed many hopeful – and some disturbing – trends today, but I to leave you with one thought that to me is crucial – and very hopeful.

I believe there is evidence of growing recognition in Congress and elsewhere that world peace and prosperity – as well as America’s vital interests – are tied into development. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright eloquently summed up this change in her remarks to our Worldwide Mission Director’s Conference when she declared: "Development is an integral part of all we do and all that we hope to achieve in the field of international affairs."

Are there any questions?

This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.

Last Updated on: July 12, 2001