Food Assistance

A Haitian woman receives a food ration in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

R.Gustafson/USAID

One billion people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger, which kills more people every year than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined. Food assistance is one method to mitigate this crisis.

USAID’s food assistance efforts are an expression of the compassion and goodwill of the people of the United States. The lifesaving assistance we provide can also help to stabilize fragile situations. 

USAID uses America’s agricultural acumen and scientific achievements to fight undernourishment and famine from Bangladesh to Sudan.

Our emergency food assistance and multi-year development programs:

• Monitor food insecurity throughout the world;
• Save lives in times of crisis;
• Tackle chronic undernutrition; and
• Help the most vulnerable break the cycle of poverty and hunger through agriculture and livelihoods support.

Many development food aid programs target disaster-prone areas and are designed to help reduce the need for emergency assistance over time.

We are providing more effective food assistance:

• Our in-kind food products are being revamped to be more nutritious and better serve the needs of vulnerable populations around the world.
• USAID has adopted a state-of-the-art supply-chain management system that allows us to preposition food strategically, significantly reducing the amount of time it takes to reach people in need. 
• Since 2010, in-kind foods are now complemented by a cash-based emergency food security program that allows USAID to buy some food locally and regionally. The cash program also allows USAID to support interventions that enable hungry people to access local markets.
• These tools are directed with the help of a state-of-the-art early-warning system that applies remote monitoring techniques with in-country data gathering and analysis in key food insecure locations. Today the USAID funded Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) is one of the most highly regarded early-warning systems in the world.

While our ability to meet the challenges of hunger has become more sophisticated, our goal remains constant: To help people everywhere enjoy active and productive lives and, ultimately, achieve a world where no one needs food assistance.