On July 29, 2008, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report covering the core findings of the CSIS Task Force on the Global Food Crisis.  Speaking at the event were the Congressional Co-chairs, Senators Lugar and Casey, as well as delivered remarks from Henrietta Holsman Fore, administrator of USAID and Director of United States Foreign Assistance, Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the World Food Programme and Ambassador R. Pickering, former U.S. Ambassador and Vice Chairman of Hills & Company. 

June 2007 marked the nascent stages of the food crisis as prices began to rise aggressively, in some cases, by 10% per month.  Food stocks were drawn down in an attempt to assuage the effects of the rising cost.  This "silent tsunami" added an additional 130 million to the designation of "urgently hungry" since last year, disproportionally affecting poor pregnant women and children.  Due to the rise in prices, purchasing power was halved.  The spring of 2008 saw riots around the world fueled by hunger, such as in Haiti and in 29 other countries this year.  Josette Sheeran stated the adage that "seven meals exist between civilization and anarchy."  The food riots underscore the close linkages between the threat of hunger and peace and stability and the impact that humanitarian assistance has upon security. 

In their July 2008 report, "A Call for A Strategic U.S. Approach to the Global Food Crisis," the CSIS Task Force lays out five priority recommendations for addressing the current crisis and to improve U.S. assistance in the future. 

1. Modernize emergency assistance.  The report summarized this by stating the need to "increase the scale of U.S. commitment and significantly improve the speed, agility, liquidity, and flexibility of the U.S. response."

2. Make rural development and agricultural productivity U.S. foreign policy priorities. As Josette Sheeran stated, by 2050, the world will need to produce twice the amount of food it is currently producing.

3. Revise the U.S. approach to biofuels.  The Task Force underscored the importance of moving the debate from "fuel versus food to fuel and food security." 

4. Focus U.S. trade policy on promoting developing country agriculture.  The Task Force called for a re-evaluation of U.S. trade policies and an examination of how tariffs and trade preferences affect agriculture in developing countries as well as the need to prioritize agricultural development in developing countries through U.S. trade policy.

5. Strengthen U.S. organizational capacities.  The Task Force echoes the sentiments of many organizations in stating the need for a better coordinated foreign assistance program, especially focusing on long term goals and the linkages between food insecurity and energy, development and trade and better coordination between the U.S., World Bank, World Food Programme and other UN organizations.

To read the entire CSIS Task Force report, please click here

At an event later in the day, Josette Sheeran addressed the Organization of American States (OAS).  She emphasized the need for political will to address the food crisis, as well as the infrastructure and market difficulties that have exacerbated the crisis, the need to develop essential safety nets to ensure food security in the future and the need for affordable energy.  Ms. Sheeran stated that in Africa, those countries that invested 10% of their budget in agriculture are on track to achieving the Millennium Development Goals with regard to hunger. 

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