U.S. Will Allocate About USD 20 Million To Support Zelenskyy’s Grain Initiative – USAID

The United States will provide about USD 20 million to the Grain From Ukraine initiative, which was announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his speech at the G20 summit. Funds will be provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the organization said in a release.

“USAID will provide support through the UN World Food Program (WFP) to facilitate the delivery of additional supplies of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the release stated.

The Agency reminded that before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, Ukraine was one of the largest suppliers of the UN WFP, as well as the fourth country in the world in terms of commercial wheat exports. The Kremlin’s brutal war against Ukraine has halted supplies, and millions of tons of grain and staple food exports have been stuck in the country for months. This exacerbated an already catastrophic global food crisis and caused food prices to skyrocket.

“Today’s announcement builds on USD 173 million already provided to WFP to purchase Ukrainian grain to feed people in countries facing the greatest food crises, including Ethiopia, Yemen and Afghanistan. 210,000 metric tons of food, enough to feed approximately 12.6 million people for one month, were purchased for the funds of U.S.,” the release said.

Since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the United States has allocated more than USD 11 billion to the global food crisis, including nearly USD 8.6 billion in humanitarian aid.

“USAID’s humanitarian assistance, including our support to WFP, includes direct food assistance as well as other support, including safe drinking water, health care, and protection to meet needs further exacerbated by the food crisis,” the Agency added.

The release also indicated that USAID continues to help Ukrainian farmers risking their lives to feed the world through the Agriculture Resilience Initiative – Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine). The initiative focuses on four areas that are critical to supporting Ukraine’s agricultural exports and its contribution to global food security: providing critical resources for farmers; improvement of export logistics and infrastructure; increasing farmers’ access to financing and meeting the needs for drying, storage and processing of crops. USAID has invested USD 100 million in this initiative, and the Agency aims to attract at least USD 150 million in additional funding from other donors, foundations and the private sector.

Tags: UN World Food Program, USAID, Black Sea Grain Initiative, Grain From Ukraine initiative, Ukraine, Russia, exports, grain, United States, wheat, food prices