By David Hong and Beth Ann Saracco

Carolyn Makhanu is a smallholder farmer in Bulondo, Kenya. Several years ago, she was growing only a few bags of maize every season—not enough to feed her family. Now she produces enough to feed her family and pay school fees for her nine children. Makhanu was lucky enough to enroll in a program that helps farmers grow more food.

Makhanu was one of millions of smallholder farmers in the developing world who are barely able to feed themselves, at times having to buy food to supplement what they grow. 805 million people in the world experience chronic hunger.  Many more are vulnerable to food insecurity as a result of climate change.

Now Makhanu is moving herself and her family out of poverty. A program that increases her access to farm inputs, financing, training, and markets has given her the means to do so. Her children, through the education they are receiving now, will be set on the path toward a higher standard of living.

Makhanu and her family received training through a program funded by Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. Since its inception, Feed the Future has aided in efforts to move 40 million people out of poverty. In 2013, the program supported 6.7 million farmers, helping them improve their productivity. It also reached 12.7 million children, providing more nutritious options.  

Feed the Future began at the end of the George W. Bush administration and early in the Obama administration. It was the U.S. response to the rapid rise in global food prices that occurred in 2007. In July 2009, the U.S. government made a $3.5 billion pledge at the G-8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy to undertake a new approach toward food security. This evolved into Feed the Future.

Last week, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs unanimously voted to move the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567), a bill introduced by Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), through committee. H.R. 1567 authorizes a comprehensive and strategic approach to global food security and nutrition and aims to build upon the successes the U.S. government has already achieved through Feed the Future. Without official statutory authorization, Feed the Future may not have a future of its own. The bill would permanently codify a comprehensive, whole-of-government strategy ensuring gains achieved through Feed the Future continue beyond the current administration. This is the opportunity to institutionalize a program that has proven its ability to address the complex problem of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition. 

Feed the Future has garnered the support of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Last year, H.R. 5656, the Global Food Security Act, authorizing implementation of a comprehensive global food security strategy, passed the House of Representatives. While H.R. 5656 stands on its own merits, its passage was directly influenced by civil society organizations around the country. Bread for the World helped mobilize faith communities in support of the legislation. As a result of their faith-inspired advocacy, over 10,000 emails were sent to Congress. Their message was received loud and clear: Feed the Future is not only helping to build sustainable, higher-producing, more efficient agriculture systems, but it’s also transforming millions of lives in the process.
 
One Acre Fund has been able to scale up operations due to funding from Feed the Future. This allows it to assist Makhanu and over 200,000 other smallholder farmers in East Africa. In Kenya alone, nearly 81,000 farmers (mostly women) were able to increase their incomes by an average of 50 percent. Many of these farmers live in extreme poverty, earning less than $1.25 per day.

H.R. 1567 represents a step in the right direction. Ending hunger and global food insecurity would be a huge leap in improving the lives of millions of people living in poverty. 

David Hong is Global Senior Policy Analyst at One Acre Fund. Beth Ann Saracco is an international policy analyst at Bread for the World.