CARE President Rallies Support for Administration&'s Focus on Gender, Nutrition, Flexibility
WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 29, 2009) - Congress should join the Obama administration in putting women at the heart of an overhauled U.S. strategy for fighting hunger, CARE President and CEO Dr. Helene Gayle told a House subcommittee today.
"Rural women produce half the world's food and, in developing countries, between 60 and 80 percent of food crops – yet they own only 1 percent of the farmland," Dr. Gayle told the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. "In sub-Saharan Africa, women account for an estimated 70 percent of smallholder farmers and 60 percent globally."
The hearing, focused on recently released details of the administration's Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, comes on the heels of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announcement earlier this month that the number of hungry people around the world has eclipsed 1 billion. Dr. Gayle reminded members of the subcommittee that a majority of the hungry are women and girls. Help them gain access to information and resources, however, and the world will turn the tide against chronic hunger, she said.
Specifically, Dr. Gayle asked Congress to work with the administration on a strategy that:
- Adds flexibility by relying less on shipments of U.S. food to developing countries – a slow, inefficient process – and more on programs that intervene before a crisis hits.
- Recognizes the key role nutrition plays in addressing the underlying cause of chronic hunger.
- Ensures support reaches the most vulnerable.
A good first step, Dr. Gayle said, would be acting on the The Global Food Security Act (HR 3077) and the Roadmap to End Global Hunger Act (HR 2817). She urged legislators not to waste this rare opportunity and work with an administration that appears committed to striking at hunger's roots.
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Atlanta: Brian Feagans, CARE,
bfeagans@care.org, +1.404.979.9453, +1.404.457.4644
