Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume II, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs

255. Briefing Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs (Katz) to the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Cooper)¹

Washington, May 3, 1979

The President’s Commission on World Hunger

You asked for an update on the work of the Commission established in September 1978 and charged with developing “recommendations designed to significantly reduce world hunger and malnutrition . . . including policy options for improving the capacity of the United States to reduce the problems of world hunger and malnutrition.” The Commission is to issue a report containing its recommendations by July 30 (this may slip to September 1).² It will spend the following 11 months working toward the implementation of those recommendations. The 20-member Commission, chaired by Sol Linowitz, brings together a variety of expertise and interest in the hunger problem.

The Work of the Commission

The Commission has three subcommittees: international hunger and development, domestic hunger and nutrition, and public participation. Since November 1978, the subcommittees have sponsored hearings with expert witnesses on food aid, agribusiness, world food security and international grains reserves, famine prevention, etc.³ The public participation subcommittee is responsible for “selling” the Commission recommendations to the public and has met with hunger interest groups around the country to mobilize support.

The Commission has agreed that the underlying cause of world hunger is poverty and that its recommendations must necessarily be development-oriented. The staff proposed that it recommend a country-by-country action plan whereby the U.S. would try to develop a consortium of donors that would meet with each recipient country and map out a coordinated food strategy for that country. However, at the May 1 session of the Commission,⁴ some of the members pointed out that the scheme would not be very different from what AID already does and that the Commission needed broader policy recommendations.

At the May 1 meeting, the individual members made statements about what priority areas and future approaches the Commission should pursue. This resulted in a long list of suggestions with an underlying conclusion that before the Commission could proceed with specific recommendations, it needed a better understanding of the hunger problem and a clearer definition of its responsibility in trying to solve it.

The staff is to provide an “underlying analysis” in the next two weeks and then target 5–20 areas where practical recommendations could be made.

Edwin Martin⁵ has recently been hired as a consultant to the Commission and he has privately expressed some concern to us that in trying to cover the waterfront of the causes and cures of hunger, the Commission may come up with a long list of unrealistic and duplicative recommendations.

A few probable recommendations emerge from the Commission meetings and staff discussion papers:

—Make alleviation and eventual elimination of hunger the primary objective of U.S. foreign assistance policy. This would involve providing a greater proportion of aid in the agricultural sector and emphasize projects supportive of agrarian reform programs.

—Support the IBRD’s inclination to develop grain storage facilities in LDCs.

—Support resumption of negotiations of a new International Grains Agreement⁶ and independent negotiation of the Food Aid Convention.

—Support of an emergency food reserve. Congressman Gilman, co-sponsor of the pending emergency food reserve legislation,⁷ is a member of the Commission.

—Assistance for the prevention of post-harvest losses in developing countries.

—Greater flexibility in administering Title II and Title III P.L. 480 food aid agreements.

—Greater emphasis on family planning programs.

—More support for agricultural research in and for developing countries and related training programs.

—Support for a stronger U.S. assistance agency with a cabinet level administrator.⁸

1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Bureau of International Organization Affairs/International Development Assistance/Agriculture Division, Subject Files of FAO, US Mission, International Food Organizations, Lot 88D305, Box 2, World Hunger, Presidential Commission on. Limited Official Use. Drafted by Peter Kolar (EB/ORF/OFP/FPD) and cleared by Donald Hart (EB/ORF/OFP).
2. See Document 263.
3. According to an undated status report prepared by the Presidential Commission on World Hunger, the Public Participation and Communication Subcommittee, composed of Chapin, Denver, Myerson, Nolan, and Stockwell, held hearings in Washington; Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; and Minneapolis, Minnesota throughout the spring of 1979. The full Commission also held a public hearing in Chicago, Illinois. (Carter Library, RG 220, Presidential Commission on World Hunger, Subject File, 1978–1980, Box 16, Status Report on the Commission [1])
4. Transcripts of the Commission meetings are in the Carter Library, RG 220, Presidential Commission on World Hunger, Transcripts, Boxes 30–33.
5. Martin was the former Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (1962–1964), Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (1968–1974), Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State and Coordinator of U.S. participation in the 1974 UN World Food Conference, and Deputy Chairman, U.S. Delegation to the Conference.
6. Negotiations to replace the International Wheat Agreement (including the Wheat Trade Agreement and Food Aid Convention) resumed in Geneva on January 22, under the auspices of UNCTAD, and concluded on February 14. Delegates were unable to adopt a new agreement and simply extended the existing one. (Telegram 2516 from the Mission in Geneva, February 14; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790070–1040) In a March 30 address before the Northwest Regional Conference on the Emerging International Order in Seattle, Washington, Vance commented: “We continue to believe that an effective International Wheat Agreement, with an expanded Food Aid Convention, would help stabilize world wheat prices and strengthen world food security. We are disappointed that after more than 2 years of effort, a workable international arrangement could not be achieved at last month’s negotiations. If prospects improve for reaching an accord, we are prepared to resume these negotiations.” (Department of State Bulletin, May 1979, p. 37) The complete text of Vance’s address is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, volume I, Foundations of Foreign Policy.
7. On April 10, Gilman introduced H.R. 3611, authorizing the President to establish an emergency stock of 4 million metric tons of wheat. Also, on April 10, McHugh introduced H.R. 3612, which also mandated the establishment of an emergency wheat reserve. Both bills were referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Subsequently Foley and cosponsors Zablocki, Fazio, and Bereuter introduced H.R. 4489 on June 15. The bill resembled both H.R. 3611 and 3612 but also contained a provision authorizing the release of up to 300,000 tons of wheat in any fiscal year for humanitarian relief in developing countries experiencing natural disasters. Talmadge introduced the Senate version of the bill (S. 1278) on June 5. For additional information, see Document 260.
8. Cooper added a handwritten comment following this point: “Nothing on nutrition!”