American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, recently released its latest report, The Time is Now for Food Aid Reform: Five Reasons Why U.S. Policies are Ripe for Reform in the Next Farm Bill .

AJWS’s paper outlines the benefits of reforming current U.S. global food aid policies as Congress debates the farm bill. In the report, AJWS lays out five changes in the current political and economic climate conducive to far-reaching policy reforms.

“The push for food aid reform is more fortuitous now than it has been for decades,” said AJWS’s director of advocacy, Timi Gerson. “If Congress seizes the opportunity, they can make bold changes that will have lasting positive impact on both American taxpayers and the millions of hungry people around the world who depend on our aid.”

According to data from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. remains the world’s largest provider of international food assistance. Although food aid alone cannot close the world hunger gap, it plays a critical role in the lives of tens of millions of individuals and their families.

U.S. food aid programs, however, are not doing the greatest good for people in need. The current one-size-fits-all approach relies too heavily on the shipping of in-kind aid from the U.S. to areas in need, instead of employing a flexible approach that includes local and regional procurement as well as cash transfers or vouchers.

The system is inefficient, with over 50 percent of taxpayer money for food aid grains wasted on subsidies to U.S. agribusiness and shipping companies. And in some cases, in-kind aid inadvertently distorts markets, undercutting local farmers who are critical to long-term sustainable food systems.

AJWS’s policy paper strikes a hopeful tone regarding the possibility of a new approach to the food aid programs in the 2012 Farm Bill. Recent small, but significant policy precedents enacted in the 2008 Farm Bill and subsequent appropriations as well as new research on the benefits of local and regional procurement (LRP), lay the groundwork for bigger structural reforms.

Beyond food aid reform’s humanitarian impact, AJWS’s report points out its relevance to the current congressional focus on fiscal responsibility. Record high food prices and budgetary pressures both increase the need for greater food aid cost effectiveness. Shifting interests and alignments among traditional supporters of the food aid status quo in the agriculture industry and among food-aid-implementing NGOs may also lower resistance to reform.

The paper contends that conditions influencing the fate of U.S. food aid policy have changed, and recent developments have created a timely opening for a politically attractive set of structural policy reforms in the next farm bill. Despite the long-running resistance to changes in U.S. food aid programs, AJWS argues that because of these changes in the political and economic context, the U.S. food aid debate is positioned at a potential turning point and the time is ripe for reform.

To read the policy paper online, please visit: http://bit.ly/z4NbiH.

American Jewish World Service
Inspired by Judaism’s commitment to justice, American Jewish World Service (AJWS) works to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world. www.ajws.org

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American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, and The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the public affairs arm of the organized American Jewish community, have spearheaded an effort to organize faith-based leaders to warn of an impending humanitarian disaster in Sudan and urge the Obama administration to step up diplomacy aimed at convincing the Sudanese government to allow international humanitarian aid into Sudan’s border regions.

Over the past five months, fighting has escalated and millions remain trapped in the conflict without access to food. The region faces famine unless the Sudanese government allows a resumption of aid.

The AJWS and JCPA released letters to Secretary Clinton signed by over 350 rabbis and Jewish leaders and 15 prominent figures from across the faith community. These faith leaders called on the Obama administration to amplify efforts to reach a negotiated solution with the Sudanese government. If an agreement cannot be reached, the faith community hopes the U.S. will develop alternative plans to ensure aid reaches at-risk civilians.

“The faith community has joined together, calling in one voice for the U.S. to use its leadership and influence to protect the Sudanese people from what appears to be intentional starvation,” said JCPA president Rabbi Steve Gutow. “This disaster is not brought by weather or accidental circumstance, but rather because available food supplies are being prevented from reaching the people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

We will not stand idly by, watching as entire populations are denied the opportunity to live a full life. Humanitarian groups are ready and able to help, and the U.S. must ensure that they are free to do so.”

“Food is an essential human need, not a weapon of war,” said Ruth Messinger, president of AJWS. “We know that people will soon begin dying and becoming malnourished in staggering numbers. The world cannot and must not passively watch people starve as humanitarian aid supplies are being obstructed and those who wish to flee are blocked. The faith community expects our leaders in government to step up their efforts and their level of urgency to stop this preventable disaster.”

Messinger and Rabbi Gutow will meet with Samantha Power, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs, National Security Council, to discuss the Obama administration’s efforts in the region.

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