President Bush has called on Congress to approve an additional $770 million in fiscal year 2009 for food aid and agricultural development programs to help countries suffering from food shortages. With the $200 million in emergency aid the administration provided in April, U.S. food aid would total nearly $1 billion.

Washington -- President Bush has called on Congress to approve an additional $770 million to support food aid and agricultural development programs in fiscal year 2009.

With the administration's release of $200 million worth of emergency food reserves from a special humanitarian trust in April, America would spend a total of nearly $1 billion in new funds to bolster food security in poor nations, Bush said May 1 at the White House. The trust is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The administration also has a pending request to Congress for approval of an additional $350 million to be made available immediately, Steve McMillin of the Office of Management and Budget said during a White House press briefing following Bush's statement.

McMillin was joined at the briefing by Ed Lazear, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Dan Price of the National Security Council.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in an April 28 news release that it is steering $40 million in fiscal year 2008 emergency funding for aid to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Haiti, Somalia, Mauritania, Uganda, Sudan and Zimbabwe. The aid would be distributed by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).

Bush said with Congress' approval of the $770 million, the administration would be on track to spend $5 billion in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 to fight global hunger. Fiscal year 2009 begins October 1, 2008.

“We’re sending a clear message to the world that America will lead the fight to end hunger for years to come,” Bush said.

The proposed $770 million for 2009 would help meet needs in countries already experiencing food shortages and target nations that have become newly hungry, Henrietta Fore, USAID administrator, said May 1. It also would allow USAID to invest in mid- and long-term agricultural and economic growth programs “to help assure future food security,” she said.

“The urgency and magnitude of the challenge confronting us is great,” Fore said.

Rising prices around the world for such staples as maize, rice and wheat have sparked riots in some developing countries, including in Egypt, Haiti, Bangladesh and nations in West Africa. Global food prices are up 43 percent from 2007, Lazear said.

He said the additional cost of grain is felt more acutely in poor countries than in developed countries because more of a family's budget is used for food. Food can take up to a reported 75 percent of family income in those countries.

Factors contributing to the rapid rise in food prices include increasing demand for food in emerging-market countries, rising energy costs that raise the cost of producing food, adverse weather-related events that have reduced crop yields and depreciation of the U.S. dollar. Increased production of biofuels has raised the cost of maize, USAID said.

Yet biofuels are “critical” to America’s national security, and the effect of biofuels on food prices “will diminish over time,” said Dan Price, deputy national security adviser.

The president also called on countries that have restricted agricultural exports to protect domestic food supplies to lift those restrictions. Doing so would “help ease suffering for those who aren’t getting food,” he said.

Ukraine recently eased its export restrictions on grain, a move the administration welcomed, Price said.

Bush said a conclusion of Doha Round trade negotiations would reduce and eliminate tariffs and other barriers, making it easier for people to get access to less-expensive food.

The WFP April 22 said rising food prices are creating the biggest challenge it has faced in its 45-year history. A “silent tsunami” threatens to plunge an additional 100 million people into poverty, according to the organization.

“This is the new face of hunger -- the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

Bush also urged countries to remove barriers to accepting improved crops developed through biotechnology. These crops are safe, able to resist drought and disease and “hold promise of producing more food,” he said.

Bush has called on Congress to support a proposal to purchase up to 25 percent of food aid from farmers in developing countries. That would save on shipping costs and allow more timely availability of aid when it is needed, supporters say.

That measure is included in a new multiyear farm bill Congress is still debating.

America is working with other members of the Group of 8 (G8) to secure commitments to give more food aid, Bush said. The G8 developed countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Great Britain and the United States -- will hold their annual get-together July 7-9 in Toyako, Japan.

Some think the administration's requests are not enough. Democratic Senators Dick Durban of Illinois and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania April 28 urged the administration to boost its fiscal year 2008 supplemental funding request for immediate food aid from $200 million to $550 million.

Casey, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the global food crisis “risks creating a series of failed states as anger at inadequate food stocks spurs riots and instability.”

America is the world’s largest food aid donor, providing approximately half of all food aid. It provides approximately 40 percent of contributions to the WFP and contributes aid through nongovernmental organizations, USAID said.

Bush's remarks, a transcript of the press briefing and a White House fact sheet are available on the White House Web site.

USAID's press release and a fact sheet about responding to the global food crisis are available on the agency's Web site.