Food Security

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines food security as existing "when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life." The United States recognizes that hunger poses a serious challenge to the global community by stunting the growth of children, weakening adults in their prime, and, in some cases, destabilizing societies and regions. With 800 million people in the world facing food insecurity on a daily basis, the United States recommitted at the 2001 World Food Summit (WFS) to achieving the 1996 WFS goal of cutting the number of hungry in half by 2015. The Department of State worked closely with other agencies to develop the "Initiative to End Hunger in Africa," which seeks to empower African smallholder farmers to increase their agricultural productivity and raise their incomes by harnessing the benefits of science and technology--including biotechnology--and unleashing the power of markets. The Department is engaged in ongoing efforts, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to persuade food-insecure countries to adopt policies that foster vibrant and productive agricultural sectors.

The United States is also the world's leading provider of food aid--a critical weapon in the war against hunger--particularly famine. The Department of State is actively engaged with other U.S. Government agencies through the Food Assistance Policy Council (FAPC) to determine the most appropriate recipients for different programs of U.S. food aid. In addition, the Department represents the United States at meetings of the international Food Aid Committee (FAC) in London and the FAO's Consultative Subcommittee on Surplus Disposal (CSSD) in Washington, DC. The CSSD provides donor and recipient countries with an opportunity to discuss the effects of food aid on commercial sales of agricultural products.