US, allies to give $4.5B to address global food security

President Biden and international allies will contribute $4.5 billion to address global food security, the White House announced at the Group of Seven (G-7) summit on Tuesday, with more than half of that commitment coming from the United States

Biden will announce $2.76 billion in additional funding from the U.S. to help protect over 47 countries that are considered to have the world’s most vulnerable populations, and mitigate the impacts of the war in Ukraine on growing food insecurity and malnutrition.

Up to 40 million more people could be pushed into poverty in 2022 as a result of the war in Ukraine, according to estimates from the White House. The most immediate needs will be in the Horn of Africa, where 20 million people could face starvation by the end of the year.

“We’re working on it,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters at the G-7 on Tuesday when asked about getting grain out of Ukraine. Biden appeared to not hear the shouted question.

Senior White House officials on Tuesday said G7 leaders were focused on approaches to facilitate Ukraine’s grain to global markets, but didn’t have specifics to share.

“Getting grain out of Ukraine to global markets is at the very top of the list of priorities that leaders have, with respect to addressing the food security challenge,” an official told reporters.

Of the additional funding from the U.S., $2 billion will be for emergency interventions and $760 million will be for sustainable near-term food assistance to help mitigate further increases in malnutrition in vulnerable countries impacted by high prices of food, fertilizer and fuel. 

The commitments to address global food security were made on the last day of the G-7 Summit in Germany. Biden then left Germany for Spain on Tuesday, where he will attend a NATO meeting.

In addition to the new funding, the U.S. Agency for International Development will commit $2 billion in international disaster assistance funds for emergency humanitarian needs over the next three months.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. has provided $2.8 billion to scale up emergency food operations in countries impacted by the food security crisis.