THE United States Government has committed to investing some US$11 billion to address food insecurity across Latin America, Jose Fernandez, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment at the U.S. Department of State disclosed recently.

During a press briefing, Fernandez said that the number of people living in acute food insecurity has increased from 100 million to about 160 million. This, he said, is partly because of the climate, conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased demand.

He noted that the government is aware of the crisis that has been created due to the shortage of food around the world, and as such, they will continue to work to help countries affected by it.

When the Under Secretary was asked about specific aid for Latin America and the Caribbean, where many countries are experiencing high prices for wheat, he stated that the U.S. has a number of programmes to provide aid.

Fernandez said: “We have the food security programme.  We’ve provided, since the war began in February, more than $2.8 billion in humanitarian food assistance; some of that is going to Latin America.”

He added that they are also working closely with individual countries to provide relief. He also revealed that over the next three years, the US government has committed to investing more than $11 billion to address food insecurity, and that this is something that they have been doing for a long time, and will continue to do all it can to ameliorate the situation in Latin America.