G/AG/GEN/173  
25 November 2020  
(20-8543) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Agriculture    
 
  
SUBMISSION BY THE INTERNATIONAL GRAINS COUNCIL  
ON BEHALF OF THE FOOD ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE  
The following submission, dated 25 November 2020, is being circulated at the request of the 
International Grains Council (IGC).  
 
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1.1.  The Food Assistance Convention entered into force on 1 January 2013. The Convention expands 
the traditional focus of previous Food Aid Conventions and now incorporates additional forms of food 
assistance, including the provision of micron utrients and cash & vouchers to meet the food and 
nutrition needs of the most vulnerable populations.  
1.2.  There are currently 16 parties who have ratified, accepted or approved the Food Assistance 
Convention (Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, European Unio n, Finland, France, Japan, Republic 
of Korea , Luxembourg, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden Switzerland, 
and the United  States of America).  
1.3.  The key components of the Food Assistance Convention are the Parties ' annual commitments 
to provide a defi ned minimum level of food assistance on a yearly basis based on the agreed 
principles of food assistance. Each Party to the Convention makes a minimum annual commitment 
of food assistance, expressed in terms of value (in Party's currency of choice) or quan tity, or a 
combination of both. After each calendar year, the Parties report their food assistance operations, 
detailing how they meet the respective commitments.  
Donor  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  
Australia    A$80m.  A$80m.  A$80m.  A$80m.  A$80m.  A$80m.  A$80m.  
Austria  €1.495m.  €1.495m.  €1.495m.  €1.495m.  €1.495m.  €1.495m.  €1.495m.  €1.495m.  
Canada  C$250m.  C$250m.  C$250m.  C$250m.  C$250m.  C$250m.  C$250m.  C$250m.  
Denmark  DKK185m.  DKK185m.  DKK185m.  DKK185m.  DKK185m.  DKK185m.  DKK185m.  DKK185m.  
European Union  €200m.  €300m.  €350m.  €350m.  €350m.  €350m.  €350m.  €350m.  
Finland  €6m. €6m. €6m. €6m. €6m. €6m. €6m. €6m. 
France            €33m.  €38m.  €50m.  
Japan  JPY10bn.  JPY10bn.  JPY10bn.  JPY10bn.  JPY10bn.  JPY10bn.  JPY10bn.  JPY10bn.  
Luxembourg    €4m. €4m. €4m. €4m. €4m. €4m. €4m. 
Rep. of Korea            KRW46bn.  KRW46bn.  KRW46bn.  
Russia n Federation    $15m.  $15m.  $15m.  $15m.  $15m.  $15m.  $15m.  
Slovenia    € 30,000  € 30,000  € 30,000  € 30,000  € 30,000  € 30,000  € 30,000  
Spain      € 500,000  € 500,000  €10m.  €10m.  €10m.  €10m.  
Sweden    SEK200m.  SEK200m.  SEK200m.  SEK200m.  SEK200m.  SEK200m.  SEK200m.  
Switzerland  CHF34m.  CHF34m.  CHF34m.  CHF34m.  CHF34m.  CHF34m.  CHF34m.  CHF34m.  
United States of America  $1.6bn.  $1.6bn.  $1.8bn.  $2.2bn.  $2.2bn.  $2.2bn.  $3.5bn.  $2.5bn.  
 
1.4.  Since its entry into force, the committee has held 13 sessions where it has reviewed the current 
and prospective food situation in developing countries against the background of recent 
developments in world supply and demand for grains, rice and oilseeds. Members also provide 
detailed inf ormation on responses to food emergencies, together with planned operations and policy 
developments.  G/AG/GEN/173  
 
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  1.5.  The 12th Session of the Food Assistance Committee was held on Friday  15 November 2019, 
where parties reviewed the global situation regarding hunger and ma lnutrition and current food 
emergencies against the backdrop of recent developments including the outlook for world markets 
for grains, rice, oilseeds and pulses. At the session members also agreed to amend the financial 
reporting template to take into con sideration contributions to un -earmarked and Pooled -Funds.  
1.6.  At the meeting the IGC Secretariat also presented its two new projects namely the Africa 
Delivered Price Tool  (ADPT) for rice, which aims to improve the transparency of the cost of African 
rice imp orts and tool  calculating the total cost of trade of grains and oilseeds. The Session was 
preceded on Thursday  14th November by a seminar titled "The Contribution of Food Assistance to 
Peace which included interventions by the ACF, Canadian Food Grains Ban k, FAO, International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Oxfam, 
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the WFP ". The seminar addressed the 
current challenges of protecting the population s affected by the crises from hunger and malnutrition 
and discussed how delivery of food assistance could be leveraged for preventing conflicts and 
building peace.  
1.7.  From 8th to 13th March 2020, Denmark, as chair of FAC, together with FAC members including 
the European Union, United States of America , and others organized the Committee 's third biannual 
donor field mission to Ethiopia. The main purpose of the donor mission was to discuss and experience 
food assistance, food security and nutrition in its differ ence forms in the context of Ethiopia and gain 
an understanding of the different challenges that humanitarian and development partners, 
government and communities face. The meetings and field trip focused on how donors can join 
efforts in providing timely and effective contributions to food security, strengthening coherence 
between support to emergency lifesaving measures and more long -term development cooperation 
around strengthening livelihoods and building resilience and capacities. The mission aim was a t 
sharing innovative approaches to strengthening food security and food systems and  overall to 
explore how to contribute to accelerating efforts towards reaching Sustainable Development Goal 2 
on ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms.  The Committ ee had meetings with a wide range 
of relevant actors in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa and Kortu.  Even though the field trip had unfortunately 
to be cut short due to the spread of coronavirus, participating members found the exchanges and 
field trips very helpful and useful. Members also expressed their hope that similar events could be 
repeated again in the future.  
1.8.  The 13th FAC Session was held via video conference on Thursday 12 November 2020.  The IGC 
Secretariat provided members with an update of the current grains, rice and oilseeds situation, 
highlighting a global record production and how currency movements increase volatility in global 
grains and rice markets and the relevance to the provision of food assistance  
1.9.  At the 13th Session the Committee ap proved the 2019 FAC Narrative report1. The report 
highlights that in 2019, parties fulfilled or substantially exceeded their commitments and contributed 
a total of almost six billion US dollars to the improvement of worldwide food security.  
1.10.  The FAC Sessi on was followed on Friday 13th November by a seminar titled "How to ensure 
effective disability inclusion during a pandemic response ". The seminar consisted of contributions 
from the International Disability Alliance, World Food Programme, the former Minis ter of Women 
and Human Rights Development, Somalia, ASEAN Disability Forum, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
Finland which emphasised the additional challenges COVID -19 poses for people with disabilities, and  
highlighted the need to collaborate across various humanitarian aid sectors.  
1.11.  The Food Assistance Convention is open for accession by all food assistance -providing 
countries, including those who were not party to the Food Aid Convention, 1999, subject to a decision 
by the Food Assistance Committee. For mor e information on the Food Assistance Convention see:  
http://www.foodassistanceconvention.org/ . 
 
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1 The 2019 FAC Narrative Report is available on the Food Assistance Convention website: 
https://www.foodassistanceconvention.org/en/reports.aspx .