ECONOMYNEXT – The United States is helping boost agriculture by cooperating with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, said U.S. Permanent Representative to UN Agencies in Rome, Cindy McCain , during a visit to Sri Lanka.
The United States is funding small farmers, working with schoolchildren and also providing food aid to vulnerable groups after the Sri Lankan rupee collapsed from 180 to 360 after two years of printing money, putting food out reach of low-income groups.
“We’re not just giving them the seeds, but we’re giving them the tools to be able to support themselves and their families for years to come,” McCain said after visiting Revatha Primary School in Haggamuwa today. today to inspect a US-funded FAO project.
“There should be more of these projects. We talked about it with the FAO. I know they are trying to implement this now.
“So I think you’ll see a lot more of these projects popping up and a lot more students willing to take action not only for food security, but also to take care of their own families.”
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is establishing 100 school gardens in Kurunegala district as part of a pilot project to promote family gardening and combat the food insecurity among school children.
FAO provided seed kits, agricultural tools and information materials to identified schools in May 2022. Training programs on nutrition-based gardening and entrepreneurial skills for teachers and students
Global food prices are also high after the US Fed and European Central Bank printed money, triggering the worst commodity boom since the Greenspan-Bernanke bubble that burst in 2009.
Consumer inflation in the United States and Europe is now the highest since the early 1980s, when US Fed chief Paul Volcker raised rates to end the period of high consumer inflation. 1970s that followed the breaking of the link between the US dollar and gold becoming a pure fiat currency. The US Fed is now raising rates to bring inflation down.
The collapse of the Rupee on top of the reserve currency fueled commodity bubble has put food out of reach (of food insecurity) for around 6 million Sri Lankans by some estimates.
Food prices have increased by 93% until August 2022 according to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Statistics.
“We just saw a mother of four who couldn’t feed her family at all. The kids went to bed hungry last night. And that’s a common problem here in Sri Lanka,” Ambassador McCain said.
US aid has also provided funds to import fertilizer for the next growing season and other forms of assistance to vulnerable groups.
“Part of the reason for Ambassador McCain’s trip and my trip here is to see firsthand the impact of food insecurity in small towns and schools and to talk to those people who go through these hardships every every day and to ensure that every penny of our aid reaches those who need it most,” said U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung.
“We have very strong partners like the WFP, FAO and others and we are making sure that aid is on the table to really help the people we met today, from the elderly to pregnant women and to the families who couldn’t feed their children last night.”
