Senate Floor Statement of Senator Lugar Lugar Floor Statement Global Food Security Act of 2009 Thursday, February 5, 2009 I am pleased today to announce the introduction of the Global Food Security Act of 2009. I would like to thank my friend Senator Casey for lending his ideas and support to this bipartisan effort, and Senator Durbin for his early cosponsorship. Finally, I want to thank the members of USAID’s informal food security team, who advised us on the nature of food insecurity and possible legislative solutions.   As we know, food prices started a steep climb in the Fall of 2007 and continued to increase during 2008. The increases pushed an additional 75 million people into poverty. While prices have abated somewhat, millions of people still face difficulty in food access and availability, and malnutrition rates in many parts of the world remain alarmingly high. The price crisis demonstrated that there are significant structural challenges to attaining global food security. The system is vulnerable to periodic disruptions that both expose and exacerbate deeper problems.   We live in a world where nearly one billion people suffer from chronic food insecurity. When droughts occur, hurricanes hit, or other disruptions arise – creating transitory food insecurity – the economic prospects of those living in or near poverty are gravely threatened. In fact, the World Food Program reports that 25,000 people die each day from malnutrition-related causes. Health experts advise us that a diverse and secure food supply has major health benefits, including increasing child survival, improving cognitive and physical development of children, and increasing immune system function including resistance to HIV/AIDS. Prolonged malnutrition in children results in stunting and cognitive difficulties that last a lifetime.   Food insecurity is a global tragedy, but it is also an opportunity for the United States. The United States is the indisputable world leader in agricultural production and technology. A more focused effort on our part to join with other nations to increase yields, create economic opportunities for the rural poor, and broaden agricultural knowledge could begin a new era in U.S. diplomacy. Such an effort could improve our broader trade relations and serve as a model for similar endeavors in the areas of energy and scientific cooperation.   Achieving food security for all people also would have profound implications for peace and U.S. national security. Hungry people are desperate people, and desperation often sows the seeds of conflict and extremism.   The United States has always stood for big ideas – from the founding of the Republic on the basis of freedom to President Kennedy’s vow to put a man on the moon.   One of today’s big ideas should be the eradication of hunger. We can bring America’s dedication to science, innovation, technology, and education together to lead an effort devoted to overcoming the obstacles to food security.   The Global Food Security Act of 2009, is a five-year authorization that seeks to provide solutions that will have the greatest effect. First, it creates a Special Coordinator for Global Food Security and puts that person in charge of developing a food security strategy. We call on the development of that strategy to take a whole-of-government approach and to work with other international donors, the NGO community, and the private sector. Addressing food security requires more than investing in agriculture; it also requires improvements in infrastructure, the development of markets, access to finance, and sound land tenure systems, to name just a few.   Second, the bill authorizes additional resources for agricultural productivity and rural development. U.S. foreign assistance for agriculture has declined by nearly 70 percent since the 1980s. Globally, only four percent of official development assistance from all donors is currently allocated for agriculture. This amounts to neglect of what should be considered one of the most vital sectors in the alleviation of poverty. Food shortages are likely to recur frequently if the United States and the global community fail to invest in agricultural productivity in the developing world.   Third, the bill improves the U.S. emergency response to food crises by creating a separate Emergency Food Assistance Fund that can make local and regional purchases of food, where appropriate. Funds can be used for emergency food and non-food assistance. The Government Accountability Office reports that it can often take four to six months from the time a crisis occurs until U.S. food shipments arrive.   Our intention is to provide USAID with the flexibility to respond to emergencies more quickly in order to complement food aid programs in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.   World leaders must understand that over the long term, satisfying global demand for more and better food can be achieved only by increasing yields per acre. In the 1930s, my father, Marvin Lugar, produced corn yields of approximately 40 to 50 bushels per acre. Today, the Lugar farm yields about 150 bushels per acre on the same land in Marion County, Indiana. The Green Revolution saw the introduction of high yield seeds and improved agricultural techniques that resulted in a near doubling of cereal grain production per acre over 20 years. But more recently, food production has not kept pace with population increases. By 2050, it is projected that population growth will require another doubling of food production. Unless much greater effort is devoted to this problem, the world is likely to experience more frequent and intense food crises that increase migration, stimulate conflicts and intensify pandemics.   Moreover, the task of doubling food production is likely to be complicated by the effects of climate change. The important report by Sir Nicolas Stern estimated that a 2 degree Celsius increase in global temperature will cut agricultural yields in Africa by as much as 35 percent. Thus, farmers around the world will be asked to meet the demands of global demographic expansion, even as they may be contending with a degrading agricultural environment that significantly depresses yields in some regions.    Increasing acreage under production will not satisfy the growth in food demand, and these steps come with serious environmental and national security costs. We need a second green revolution that will benefit developed and developing nations alike.   Recent studies have demonstrated that funds spent in agriculture can be up to twice as beneficial to economic growth as spending in other areas. It seems, therefore, that our overall foreign aid strategy would benefit from restoring agriculture programs to their former prominence. The bill increases funding for these programs in the first year by $750 million. The increase would reach $2.5 billion in year five. Because those who subsist on less than one dollar a day spend at least half their incomes on food, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, the bill highlights the need to focus on those living in extreme poverty.   In thinking about how to approach agricultural productivity, we tried to draw from the experience of U.S. land grant colleges and the contributions they have made to U.S. agriculture. The bill seeks to strengthen institutions of higher education in the areas of agriculture sciences, research and extension programs. Investments in human capital and institutional capacity are important to developing a robust agricultural sector.    Universities and research centers can play an important role in achieving technological advances that are appropriate to local conditions. As such, the bill calls for increasing collaborative research on the full range of biotechnological advances including genetically modified technologies.   I hope that our bill will begin a productive dialogue on how our government can be a more effective partner with NGO and private actors in promoting food security. There is no good reason why nearly a billion people should be food insecure or that the world should have to endure the social upheaval and risks of conflict that this insecurity causes.   I look forward to working with colleagues to improve the U.S. and global efforts to alleviate food insecurity and advance agricultural knowledge and technology worldwide. I thank the Chair.   ###