Statement by the President on the Food for Peace Program.

I HAVE just concluded a review with Director Richard W. Reuter of the Food for Peace program activities carried out during calendar year 1964 under Public Law 480. Mr. Reuter's annual report will be transmitted to the Congress shortly. I believe all Americans should know--and will be pleased to learn--the significant scope of their Nation's effort to use the abundance of our farms to battle hunger in the world.

The Food for Peace program is one of the most inspiring enterprises ever undertaken by any nation in all of history--and every American can be proud of it, without regard to partisanship or political persuasion.

The principal points of the Food for Peace story are these:

1. Food for Peace is directly benefiting more people than ever before. Of the 100 million recipients of our donated foods, 70 million are children. This includes more than 40 million children benefiting from organized national school lunch efforts.

2. Today approximately 40 percent of the United States economic development assistance overseas is in the form of agricultural commodities and local currencies received from their sale. To achieve this record, Food for Peace exports reached a new high in 1964 of 18 million tons of agricultural commodities with an estimated export market value of $1.7 billion.

3. The most grave health problem of the world remains hunger and malnutrition. Studies indicate that in some developing countries as high as 70 percent of preschool children are undernourished or malnourished. Such malnutrition not only results in high child death rates and widespread disabling diseases but research has now established that it also produces permanent retardation of mental as well as physical development. Food for Peace is concentrating increasing attention on nutrition, especially for the young.

4. While seeking to improve the nutritional balance in our commodity use, Food for Peace continues to seek the humanitarian goal of using our food to meet human needs. In 1964 more than 3 billion pounds of commodities were programmed under title III of Public Law 480 for donation to 67.3 million people. As part of the Alliance for Progress, "Operation Ninos" school lunch programs in Latin America are currently feeding 13 million children compared to fewer than 4 million when this special emphasis was initiated only 2 ½ years ago.

5. In 1965 there were fewer large scale disasters in the world than in .previous years. Food for Peace was called upon to assist only 4 million victims under title II Emergency Relief Programs--the smallest number since the inception of the program.

6. The Food for Peace program is increasingly making substantial contributions to the development of commercial markets for our farm products as well as purely humanitarian efforts. Commercial sales of U.S. agricultural commodities overseas reached a new high of $4.6 billion during 1964, more than double the commercial agricultural exports of 1954 when Public Law 480 was first enacted. Food for Peace exports under title I (sales for foreign currencies) reached a record high in 1964 of almost $1.2 billion. Public Law 480-generated currencies are paying U.S. overseas expenses, conserving dollars and strengthening our balance of payments position. Reimbursements to the Commodity Credit Corporation through 1964 by U.S. Government agencies utilizing these currencies totaled almost $1.1 billion.

These are only some of the accomplishments of Food for Peace during the past year. Full particulars will be included in the report to be sent to the Congress.

Food for Peace has come a long way since 1954 when it was so generally considered only as a temporary means to dispose of "burdensome" agricultural surpluses in the United States. Food for Peace has proved its worth as an important means to meet human need, encourage economic development, and support U.S. foreign policy. Most importantly, it has helped demonstrate to the world that human hunger is no longer an inevitable fact of life--its elimination is within our grasp.

We have long recognized that an insufficient food supply is a leading contributor to human misery and political instability. More recently we have begun to recognize that it is also a major deterrent to economic and social development. The resulting loss, in both human and economic terms, is one of the great tragedies and shortcomings of the 20th century.

The long-range solution to the hunger problem rests in improving the productive capacity of the developing nations themselves. In my messages to the Congress this year on agriculture and foreign assistance, I pointed to the need for increased attention directed to the agricultural sectors of less developed countries--specifically, to help overcome obstacles such as the present deficiency of fertilizer, the lack of adequate Government policies in establishing sufficient incentives for the farmer, and the general insufficiency of education so vitally needed to improve farming methods and technology.

Our efforts on these matters must continue. But we must also continue to utilize our own agricultural resources until the day these other countries become self-sufficient. That will be a number of years away--but Food for Peace can shorten this time.

Food for Peace is an important tool for development. It is good international policy and sound domestic policy. Food for Peace is, above all, a program which expresses the great and generous heart of the American people--and is a worthy expression of the compassion always so much a part of America's character.

Mr. Reuter and his assistants are doing a most outstanding job in directing and conducting this vital program and I am pleased to congratulate them upon the outstanding record established during 1964.