The United States will contribute more than $68 million through USAID to help buy, ship and store up to 150,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat to address acute food insecurity in the Horn of Africa.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this purchase builds on the first World Food Programme shipment of 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat for the humanitarian response, according to an Aug. 16 news release.
“This sum represents the latest in more than $5.4 billion in humanitarian contributions from the United States this fiscal year,” Blinken said, according to the release.
Millions of people are being pushed to the brink of starvation by a historic drought in the Horn of Africa, the release reported.
A positive step to aid food insecure countries was seen when exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports resumed in the midst of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Blinken said, according to the release. He said the shipments must continue so millions of tons of food stuck in Ukraine can help feed the world’s most vulnerable people.
The U.S. holds to its commitment to support global food security despite facing climate change, supply chain disruptions related to the pandemic and Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, he said, the release reported.
