JOHANNS MAKES HUMANITARIAN FOOD RELIEF AVAILABLE FOR AFRICA

JOHANNS MAKES HUMANITARIAN FOOD RELIEF AVAILABLE FOR AFRICA

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2005 - Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that USDA is releasing up to 500,000 metric tons of wheat from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust as part of President Bush's Hunger Initiative to address the emergency food situation in Africa.

"I am pleased that USDA can be part of the compassionate and generous response of Americans in this time of need," said Johanns. "We have a long tradition of supporting the developing world. Through all our efforts to fight hunger and avert famine, we can spare people in many nations from suffering."

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner made the announcement in remarks to the 2005 U.S.-Africa Business Summit of the Corporate Council on Africa in Baltimore, Md. The United States will make available up to 500,000 metric tons of wheat from the Emerson Trust to relieve suffering and avert famine in Africa, especially in Ethiopia and Eritrea. USDA is taking this action as part of President Bush's pledge on June 7 to provide approximately $674 million of additional resources to respond to humanitarian emergencies in Africa, of which $414 million of those additional resources will be provided immediately to avert famine.

"Helping those who suffer and preventing the senseless deaths of millions of people in Africa is a central commitment of my administration's foreign policy," said President Bush at the White House announcement of the Hunger Initiative on June 7. "We're making historic progress and helping the poorest countries in Africa gain a fresh start, and to build a future of greater opportunity and prosperity. America will continue to lead the world to meet our duty in helping the world's most vulnerable people."

The wheat from the Emerson Trust will be shipped as emergency food relief under P.L. 480, Title II, a program administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It will be distributed mainly through the World Food Program and private voluntary organizations and is expected to arrive over the next few months.

The wheat, which will be provided in combination with vegetable oil, pulses and corn soy blend from the Title II account, will help to prevent famine and will feed 14.2 million people in Ethiopia and Eritrea. In these countries, rains have been insufficient, crops are poor and many people, particularly the young and the elderly, are suffering.

The Emerson Trust is an emergency food reserve available for humanitarian relief in developing countries and administered under the authority of the secretary of agriculture. The trust was reauthorized through 2007 by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. Prior to this release, the reserve held 1.4 million tons of wheat.

Last December, USDA allocated 200,000 tons of wheat from the trust to provide food to relieve suffering and avert famine in Sudan.

Release No. 0225.05 Contact: Ed Loyd (202) 720-4623 Lynn Goldsbrough (202) 720-3930 more at Mike Johanns and Hunger Initiative, or Africa