Food security: Biden announces additional $2.9bn funding

The United States President, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., has announced over $2.9 billion in new assistance from the U.S. Government to address global food insecurity.

Biden made the announcement while addressing the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The announcement builds on the $6.9 billion in U.S. government assistance to support global food security already committed this year.

The compounding impacts of the pandemic, the deepening climate crisis, rising energy and fertiliser costs and protracted conflicts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have disrupted global supply chains and dramatically increased global food prices.

A multi-year drought in the Horn of Africa has created a dire humanitarian emergency, with parts of Somalia at risk of famine for the second time in just over a decade.

This new announcement of $2.9 billion will save lives through emergency interventions and invest in medium to long term food security assistance in order to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations from the escalating global food security crisis.

U S had convened a Global Food Security Summit co-chaired by Secretary of State Antony Blinken with the leaders of the European Union, African Union, and Spain, and co-hosted with Germany, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Colombia, on the margins of the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Week. The Global Food Security Summit reaffirmed the commitment of world leaders to act with urgency and at scale to respond to the pressing global food crisis and avert extreme hunger for hundreds of millions of people around the world.

President Biden will also convene the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, on September 28, to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases here at home.

About Chizoba Ogbeche, with agencies

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