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USAID candidate promises to maintain partnership with farmers, shippers

Gayle Smith

Gayle Smith

In a little-noticed development, Gayle Smith, President Barack Obama’s nominee to become administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said last month that she wants to move forward with food aid reforms while maintaining the government’s relationship with the farmers and shippers who have questioned the administration’s proposal to buy more food for food aid in countries close to the places where the food is distributed.

At a June 17 confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Smith discussed her priorities.

“First, I will focus the agency on programs that are achieving results and will be selective about initiating new commitments,” Smith said. “Further, I will work with Congress to institutionalize these programs.”

“I will also work with this committee and other stakeholders to pursue meaningful food aid reform that will enable us to reach more people, more quickly, in times of need — all while maintaining our historic partnership with U.S. farmers and maritime.”

Discussing the Obama administration’s signature agricultural development program, Smith said, “Feed the Future and the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition have together elevated food security on the global agenda, registered direct impact on reducing poverty and improving nutrition, and mobilized billions of dollars in direct assistance and private resources.”

“In 2013 alone, Feed the Future reached more than 12.5 million children with nutrition interventions and helped more than 7 million farmers and food producers use new technologies and management practices on more than 4 million hectares of land,” she said. “If confirmed, I will ensure that Feed the Future and related nutrition programs continue to deliver these evidence-based results.”

Smith, the senior director for development, democracy, and humanitarian affairs at the National Security Council, has been nominated to succeed USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, who resigned.