CARE Applauds Historic Passage of the Global Food Security Act

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The global poverty-fighting organization CARE is celebrating the historic passage today of the Global Food Security Act (S.1252), bipartisan legislation that will reduce food insecurity for the nearly 800 million people worldwide who suffer from chronic hunger.

The Global Food Security Act will build on recent successes, including the Feed the Future initiative that was started and built by Presidents Bush and Obama. The Global Food Security Act institutes a comprehensive and coordinated U.S. strategy that focuses on empowering local communities to address hunger.

"This landmark bill represents almost a decade of work by CARE and our partners to prioritize food and nutrition security for the millions of hungry people worldwide," said Michelle Nunn, president & CEO of CARE. "CARE believes that the U.S. can, and should, continue to increase our effectiveness and impact in ending global hunger. The Global Food Security Act is a historic step toward reducing malnutrition around the world and I'm so pleased to see this leadership from Congress on such a critical issue."

A severe El Niño-driven drought across large swaths of eastern and southern Africa is ravaging crops, livestock and livelihoods in thousands of communities. More than 40 million people face food insecurity in southern Africa alone, while another 10.2 million people are affected in Ethiopia. The Global Food Security Act will strengthen important food and nutrition security policies that will make these and other communities more resilient to shocks such as droughts, floods and famine.

Through an effective, transparent and sustainable approach, the Global Food Security Act ensures that smallholder producers, particularly women, are empowered to feed their families and their own communities. This bill improves current U.S. programs in order to support sustainable and equitable agricultural development, reduce global hunger and improve nutrition.

CARE's decades of work in food and nutrition security has shown us that we must have a comprehensive global food and nutrition security strategy that focuses on women and smallholder producers and leverages natural resource management practices. If women farmers had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20 percent to 30 percent – and the number of hungry people in the world would drop by up to 150 million.

"We know what we need to do to end global hunger, and the Global Food Security Act advances U.S. policy to work toward that goal," said Nunn.

The Global Food Security Act was introduced by Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN-4) and Chris Smith (R-NJ-4) and by Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Bob Casey (D-PA). The bill will now be sent to the President's desk for signature.

About CARE:       
Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package®, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside women and girls because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. That's why women and girls are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education and health, create economic opportunity, respond to emergencies and confront hunger. Last year CARE worked in 95 countries and reached more than 65 million people around the world. To learn more, visit www.care.org.

SOURCE CARE

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