Message to the Congress Transmitting Annual Report on U.S. Food Aid Programs.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit to the Congress a report of our food aid programs during calendar year 1966.

This report marks a year in which the productivity of American agriculture and the generosity of the American people have done much to help others to help themselves.

Food and fiber valued at $1.5 billion were provided to needy people in more than one hundred countries. Since 1954 the United States has provided almost $16 billion in farm products to 116 countries which together contain almost half of the world's population.

To millions of human beings, this sharing has meant survival in the face of drought or other natural disaster. To countless children it has meant freedom from the weakness, disease, and mental retardation which are the tragic consequences of malnutrition.

In 1966, however, United States food aid programs entered a new and more critical stage. The world's food problem was growing-not diminishing. Despite our efforts, serious food shortages threatened many countries. The problem of feeding rapidly growing populations was compounded by serious drought in India and Pakistan--the worst drought on the South Asian subcontinent in this century.

The world faced two related problems:

--to stimulate agricultural production in the food-deficit countries so that they will eventually be able to grow their own food, or to buy it through the nor mal channels of world commerce; and

--to provide direct food shipments sufficient to ward off starvation and severe malnutrition during the interim period until the deficit countries achieve self-sufficiency.

After a long and careful study, the United States undertook to carry its share of the burden in a worldwide War on Hunger. I sent to the Congress a special message proposing that the United States lead an all-out effort to reverse the dire trend in the race between world population and world food supply. The response of the Congress gave us the tools to wage that war.

There are six main elements of the new strategy.

Emphasis on self-help. The War on Hunger must be fought and won within the countries where hunger exists. Our food aid and other forms of assistance must go primarily to those who do the most to help themselves. The key to victory over hunger is self-help.

Policy for a non-surplus era. In the past, our food aid programs have been based on the existence of food surpluses in the United States. These surpluses are gone. Until the less-developed countries are able to provide for themselves, our domestic farm programs must be geared to ensure that we produce enough to meet pressing foreign needs as well as the demand here at home.

Population programs. Rapid population growth can make the dream of plenty a nightmare of famine. This is an enormous problem. It is clearly a matter for the conscience of each family and each nation. We will never dictate an answer, nor intrude on the decision others must make for themselves. But many countries have voluntarily decided that the time has come to confront the population challenge. We stand ready to respond to the requests for help from these nations in formulating and carrying out effective programs.

Integration of all U.S. assistance programs. Relief from immediate suffering is only part of the War on Hunger. It gives precious time and strength for a larger task. The developing countries must use this time to gather the resources and skills to improve their agricultural production so that they can ultimately stand on their own feet. This is the goal of our technical and economic assistance. Clearly, our food aid must be closely related to these other forms of help in a single, carefully integrated approach to the entire food problem.

Increased private investment. There is no easy or simple answer to the scourge of poverty and hunger. No single program, no single plan, and no single government holds the key. We must marshal the sum of our experience. We must bring to bear more and more the capital and know-how of private enterprise--both in the United States and in the developing nations themselves.

A multi-national effort. The food deficit is a world problem. Developed nations must join in an international undertaking to combat hunger and modernize agriculture. The United States cannot shoulder this responsibility alone. In meeting the world's food needs, the common interest lies in common effort. In sum, we propose to enlist the very best talent--private and public, of all nations, rich and poor.

As I have stressed, our own food aid is only a part of a wider attack on the causes of hunger. We made effective use of this new approach in the Sales agreements signed in 1966. In the program with India, for example, our food assistance complements India's own strenuous measures to increase agricultural production. We also made a special effort to encourage help to India from other developed nations.

We seek new agreements with other countries in the same spirit. Our goal is to achieve both self-help in the developing countries and close integration of our own aid with the assistance of other wealthy countries.

The developing nations are helping themselves. Given a critical margin of capital, technical skill, and interim food shipments from the advanced countries, the threat of mass hunger will eventually diminish. Over the past twelve years, PL 480 has meant the difference between life and death for millions all around the world. That challenge and that momentous obligation are still with us.

I know that Americans have the dedication, the patience, the skills, and the wisdom to see the job through. Working together with rich nations and poor, all equally determined that mankind will conquer its oldest enemy, we will win the war on hunger.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

November 6, 1967