will be looking at ways in which the international community can be prepared in advance to deal with the future food crisis.

We are particularly interested in a proposal for international action to assure adequate basic food stocks offered by Dr. A. H. Boerma, director-general of FAO in June of this year. Dr. Boerma noted that the world is currently just one bad harvest away from widespread famine and critical shortage of foodstuffs. It is his view that a minimum level of world food security could be achieved through a limited degree of coordination of national stock policies.

We must not lose sight of the fact that chronic food shortages mean widespread human misery and that the United States should exert positive leadership toward effective international response to shortages. I hope that our efforts to stimulate discussion on this crucial issue will lead to action by this country to assure adequate food resources through a system based on international cooperation.

Our witnesses today include three officials of the executive branch. and four public witnesses: The Hon. David H. Popper, Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs, Department of State; Mr. Andrew J. Mair, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Commodities Programs, Department of Agriculture; Mr. John L. Mills, Director, Agency Directorate for Agriculture, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State; Mr. James Grant, Director, Overseas Development Council; Mr. Dale E. Hathaway, International Division, Ford Foundation; Dr. J. E. Dutra de Oliveira of the Graduate School of Nutrition, Cornell University; and Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of People United to Save Humanity (PUSH).

In order that we can use our time most efficiently with such a large number of witnesses, we ask that the three Government witnesses deliver their statements consecutively after which we will question them; then we can hear the testimony of the four public witnesses and question them.

For our first witness I would like to welcome our new Secretary, the Assistant Secretary for International Organizations, Secretary Popper. He has had long experience in the international organization field, but most recently served as Ambassador to Cyprus. He has had a chance to watch first hand not only the United Nations in a peacekeeping role, but also a country which itself has suffered food shortages. So he comes with a very diverse background both today in his new job and in the Department.

We are delighted to see you here, Mr. Secretary.

STATEMENT OF HON. DAVID H. POPPER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Mr. POPPER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I want, first of all, to tell you and the committee what a pleasure it is for me to be here today and to become acquainted with you in my new capacity as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. In past years I have been privileged to know many members of this subcommittee, and I have appeared before it on a number of occasions.

I appreciate very much your constant interest in matters involving transnational action and broad multilateral cooperation, which play an increasingly prominent role in the world of the late twentieth century.

Let me assure you that the Bureau of International Organizations of the Department of State is at your disposal at all times on such matters as lie within its competence. I hope you will not hesitate to call upon the Bureau for any information or assistance it can furnish.

Today my colleagues and I are grateful for the opportunity to discuss what is perhaps the most fundamental of all human problems. There has never been a time when tomorrow's food was not a life-anddeath matter for much and sometime most of the world's population; never a time when people somewhere have not been starving.

Through science and technology man has averted fulfillment of the grim Malthusian prophecy that eventually famine would limit population growth. But he has never been able to conquer hunger in any ultimate sense.

We have often forgotten how very thin is the margin between scarcity and abundance in the world food situation. Only yesterday, figuratively speaking, we in the United States were striving as mightily as we could to hold down our surpluses. Today we and other major world food producers are going all out to meet desperate needs for hundreds of millions of people, and we find ourselves forced to embargo exports of certain commodities to keep our own country supplied with suitable food stocks at tolerable prices.

Clearly we are faced with a situation which is far from satisfactory-a situation which cries out for remedial action. The problem is, what kind of action can we take, alone or with others, to alleviate the situation in the most effective way.

In these opening remarks, Mr. Chairman, I should like to delineate what I believe to be the main issue affecting the U.S. food policy today, since we necessarily consider all aspects of the food problem, including the new proposals of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on minimum world food security, in that context. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Andrew Mair has kindly consented to appear with me to discuss the world food situation and its impact on American agricultural policy. Mr. John Mills, of the Agriculture Directorate of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs in the State Department, is prepared to discuss specific aspects of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) proposals.

The FAO concern for what it terms minimum world food security is a response to the recent, rapid decline in world food reserves, a decline which has not yet reached catastrophic proportions but which is looming up before us in an ominous way.

In recent months we have seen what could be the portents of the future: Prolonged droughts in the Sahelian Zone in sub-Saharan West Africa, vast areas of food shortage in India and Bangladesh, enormous food imports into the Soviet Union and China, a deteriorating food situation in many, many developing countries.

In all too many areas we find little or no growth in food production coupled with very high growth in population rates. In such circumstances, as we have seen, our own agricultural productive capacity,

will be looking at ways in which the international community can be prepared in advance to deal with the future food crisis.

We are particularly interested in a proposal for international action to assure adequate basic food stocks offered by Dr. A. H. Boerma, director-general of FAO in June of this year. Dr. Boerma noted that the world is currently just one bad harvest away from widespread famine and critical shortage of foodstuffs. It is his view that a minimum level of world food security could be achieved through a limited degree of coordination of national stock policies.

We must not lose sight of the fact that chronic food shortages mean widespread human misery and that the United States should exert positive leadership toward effective international response to shortages. I hope that our efforts to stimulate discussion on this crucial issue will lead to action by this country to assure adequate food resources through a system based on international cooperation.

Our witnesses today include three officials of the executive branch and four public witnesses: The Hon. David H. Popper, Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs, Department of State; Mr. Andrew J. Mair, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Commodities Programs, Department of Agriculture; Mr. John L. Mills, Director, Agency Directorate for Agriculture, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State; Mr. James Grant, Director, Overseas Development Council; Mr. Dale E. Hathaway, International Division, Ford Foundation; Dr. J. E. Dutra de Oliveira of the Graduate School of Nutrition, Cornell University; and Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of People United to Save Humanity (PUSH).

In order that we can use our time most efficiently with such a large number of witnesses, we ask that the three Government witnesses deliver their statements consecutively after which we will question them; then we can hear the testimony of the four public witnesses and question them.

For our first witness I would like to welcome our new Secretary, the Assistant Secretary for International Organizations, Secretary Popper. He has had long experience in the international organization field, but most recently served as Ambassador to Cyprus. He has had a chance to watch first hand not only the United Nations in a peacekeeping role, but also a country which itself has suffered food shortages. So he comes with a very diverse background both today in his new job and in the Department.

We are delighted to see you here, Mr. Secretary.

STATEMENT OF HON. DAVID H. POPPER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Mr. POPPER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I want, first of all, to tell you and the committee what a pleasure it is for me to be here today and to become acquainted with you in my new capacity as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. In past years I have been privileged to know many members of this subcommittee, and I have appeared before it on a number of occasions.

I appreciate very much your constant interest in matters involving transnational action and broad multilateral cooperation, which play an increasingly prominent role in the world of the late twentieth century.

Let me assure you that the Bureau of International Organizations of the Department of State is at your disposal at all times on such matters as lie within its competence. I hope you will not hesitate to call upon the Bureau for any information or assistance it can furnish.

Today my colleagues and I are grateful for the opportunity to discuss what is perhaps the most fundamental of all human problems. There has never been a time when tomorrow's food was not a life-anddeath matter for much and sometime most of the world's population; never a time when people somewhere have not been starving.

Through science and technology man has averted fulfillment of the grim Malthusian prophecy that eventually famine would limit population growth. But he has never been able to conquer hunger in any

ultimate sense.

We have often forgotten how very thin is the margin between scarcity and abundance in the world food situation. Only yesterday, figuratively speaking, we in the United States were striving as mightily as we could to hold down our surpluses. Today we and other major world food producers are going all out to meet desperate needs for hundreds of millions of people, and we find ourselves forced to embargo exports of certain commodities to keep our own country supplied with suitable food stocks at tolerable prices.

Clearly we are faced with a situation which is far from satisfactory-a situation which cries out for remedial action. The problem is, what kind of action can we take, alone or with others, to alleviate the situation in the most effective way.

In these opening remarks, Mr. Chairman, I should like to delineate what I believe to be the main issue affecting the U.S. food policy today, since we necessarily consider all aspects of the food problem, including the new proposals of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on minimum world food security, in that context. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Andrew Mair has kindly consented to appear with me to discuss the world food situation and its impact on American agricultural policy. Mr. John Mills, of the Agriculture Directorate of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs in the State Department, is prepared to discuss specific aspects of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) proposals.

The FAO concern for what it terms minimum world food security is a response to the recent, rapid decline in world food reserves, a decline which has not yet reached catastrophic proportions but which is looming up before us in an ominous way.

In recent months we have seen what could be the portents of the future: Prolonged droughts in the Sahelian Zone in sub-Saharan West Africa, vast areas of food shortage in India and Bangladesh, enormous food imports into the Soviet Union and China, a deteriorating food situation in many, many developing countries.

In all too many areas we find little or no growth in food production coupled with very high growth in population rates. In such circumstances, as we have seen, our own agricultural productive capacity,

once more than adequate, is strained to help meet even partially an enormous world demand.

Mr. Chairman, I am not technically competent to go deeply into the specifics of this problem. Mr. Mair will brief you more fully on its extent and what we see as its implications. But I would like to suggest that the United States may soon be confronted with something of a dilemma in its food policy, if that is not the case already.

The situation we see arising is this. Because of our domestic food requirements and our balance of payments and monetary problems, our ability to respond to future foreign food emergencies is likely to be severely limited, especially when the foreign need is for assistance on concessional terms or even gratis.

On the other hand, we cannot in conscience completely disregard the clamorous and increasing demands of the developing world for food aid. How shall we strike our balance between these conflicting considerations?

The U.S. Government has an obligation first and foremost to its own people. But we cannot limit ourselves to that proposition exclusively when we are asked to help others to fight hunger.

It seems to me, Mr. Chairman, that over time our best response to this problem may be found, at least in large part, through multilateral means. It makes good sense to coordinate the global response to a global food problem by cooperation and coordination within a multilateral framework. Therein, while safeguarding our own requirements, we can work out an equitable system of shared responsibilities.

On a smaller scale we have already successfully pioneered this approach in the world food program of the FAO, through the use of à U.S. matching formula which keys our food contributions to those forthcoming from other donor countries. In the past the United States contributed to the program a ton of foodstuffs for every ton contributed by other donors. In 10 years, contributions from all donors to the program increased from a value of $28 million per annum to $125 million per annum. It is now an established and reasonably successful international institution which has been signally helpful, if limited in scope.

Because of the success of the matching formula, the United States reduced its matching ratio last year from 50 percent to 40 percent and this year plans to abandon it altogether, making only a flat contribution. Thus, we have used our abundance, when we had it, to encourage others to give, with benefit to all.

The world food program is only one of a number of multilateral efforts to assist in meeting emergency food requirements and supply. Other schemes, more ambitious in scope, have foundered on the opposition of governments. As far back as 1946 there were proposals for a World Food Board and a world famine reserve; in 1949 a group of experts formulated a scheme for an international commodity clearinghouse to hold stocks acquired in periods of surplus; in 1952-53 a scheme was proposed to set up an international relief fund to finance, organize and guarantee speedy delivery of emergency relief; in 1956 the FAO studied the feasibility of creating national food reserves: and in recent years there have been several proposals for world food banks, food funds and commodity organizations. None of these schemes reached fruition.