Page 115 - A Soldiers Exposition

The United States General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548
National Security and
International Affairs Division
B-286196 L

September 29, 2000

The Honorable Marcy Kaptur
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Rural Development,
Agriculture and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives

Dear Madam Kaptur:

In December 1998, the United States responded to a request by the Russian Federation for food aid that
was triggered by the twin effects of one of the lowest Russian grain harvests in decades and a severe
financial crisis. The United States agreed to provide 3.7 million metric tons of food aid in the fiscal
year 1999, at a cost of approximately $1.1 billion (including commodity and freight costs). Most of the
food aid was sold by the Russian government to regional mills and processors and is expected to raise
about $353.2 million for the Russian Pension Fund and $2.3 million for agricultural projects in Russia. A
small portion of the U.S. food aid was donated to Russian social institutions to feed some of the neediest
people. The fiscal year 1999 program, which is administered by the Department of Agriculture’s Foreign
Agricultural Service, was one of the largest food aid programs to a single nation in the history of U.S. food
aid.

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http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-AIMD-00-329/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-AIMD-
00-329.pdf