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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2822 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2822

To establish the United States comprehensive strategy for assistance to 
 developing countries to achieve food and nutrition security, increase 
  sustainable and equitable agricultural development, reduce hunger, 
improve nutrition, and develop rural infrastructure and stimulate rural 
                   economies, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2013

  Ms. McCollum (for herself, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Schock, Mr. Clay, Mr. 
Rangel, Ms. Moore, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Rush, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Honda, 
    Mr. Moran, Mr. Polis, Mr. Kilmer, and Mr. Cohen) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To establish the United States comprehensive strategy for assistance to 
 developing countries to achieve food and nutrition security, increase 
  sustainable and equitable agricultural development, reduce hunger, 
improve nutrition, and develop rural infrastructure and stimulate rural 
                   economies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Global Food 
Security Act of 2013''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
         TITLE I--POLICY OBJECTIVES, PLANNING AND COORDINATION

Sec. 101. Statement of policy.
Sec. 102. Comprehensive global food security strategy.
Sec. 103. Reports.
                      TITLE II--BILATERAL PROGRAMS

Sec. 201. Agriculture, rural development, and nutrition.
Sec. 202. Agricultural and nutrition research.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Food and nutrition security is a foundation of 
        development. Persistent hunger and malnutrition stunt the 
        mental and physical development of the next generation and 
        hinder education, health, economics and security.
            (2) More than 870,000,000 people worldwide suffer from 
        chronic food insecurity. Food insecurity and malnutrition in 
        developing countries forces tens of millions of people into 
        poverty, contributes to political and social instability, 
        erodes economic growth, and undermines United States foreign 
        assistance investments in areas including basic education, 
        global health, environmental protection, and democratic 
        institutions.
            (3) According to the March 2013 Worldwide Threat Assessment 
        of the U.S. Intelligence Community, food insecurity is a 
        worldwide threat: ``Growing food insecurity in weakly governed 
        countries could lead to political violence and provide 
        opportunities for existing insurgent groups to capitalize on 
        poor conditions, exploit international food aid, and discredit 
        governments for their inability to address basic needs''.
            (4) In the next 30 years, as the world's population 
        increases to nine billion people, agricultural productivity 
        will need to double to keep pace with demand. Countries that 
        are major agricultural exporters have greatly enhanced 
        productivity over the past two decades, but many developing 
        countries with good potential to improve their agricultural 
        economies have not. Improving agricultural productivity in 
        those countries in a sustainable and equitable manner will 
        increase world food supplies and accelerate economic growth and 
        incomes, while preserving natural habitat and resources.
            (5) Malnutrition remains one of the world's most pressing 
        and costly problems--close to 200,000,000 children are 
        chronically malnourished. Undernutrition is responsible for 45 
        percent of child deaths, and eleven percent of the total global 
        disease burden is attributable to maternal and child 
        undernutrition. According to the Lancet more than 1 in 4 of the 
        world's children is stunted. Stunting leads to serious, often 
        irreversible physical and cognitive damage.
            (6) Reducing maternal and child malnutrition, especially 
        during the 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2, is critical 
        to increasing child survival, improving cognitive and physical 
        development, and strengthening the immune system to bolster 
        resistance to disease.
            (7) Many pregnant women living in developing countries 
        cannot access nutrition services until the fifth or sixth month 
        of their pregnancies, leading to children born small for their 
        gestational age. For this reason, improving the nutritional 
        status of women and adolescent girls before and during 
        pregnancy is vitally important.
            (8) The greatest potential for achieving increased food and 
        nutrition security for people in rural areas and augmenting 
        world food production at relatively low cost lies in increasing 
        the agricultural capacity, resilience, sustainability and 
        productivity of smallholder farmers. Farmers should be actively 
        engaged at all stages of education, participatory research and 
        extension processes.
            (9) The most promising and scalable gains in smallholder 
        agriculture production will come from the delivery of seed, 
        fertilizer, and basic farmer extension education on farming 
        techniques, such as row planting of crops.
            (10) According to the World Bank, growth in the 
        agricultural sector has been twice as effective in reducing 
        poverty as growth in other sectors. In sub-Saharan Africa 
        agriculture contributes about 35 percent of the total gross 
        national product (GNP). Approximately 75 percent of the 
        workforce in sub-Saharan Africa is engaged in the agricultural 
        sector and three out of five of those suffering from hunger are 
        rural, small-scale agriculturists. Thus, nutrition, agriculture 
        and rural development strategies must include engagement of and 
        provision of assistance to smallholder producers. Interventions 
        to enhance agricultural productivity, conserve natural 
        resources, and provide linkages to services, inputs, financing 
        and markets for smallholder agricultural producers is an 
        effective means of increasing and diversifying food supplies, 
        improving incomes and preserving natural habitat.
            (11) Agriculture development to increase the yield, 
        biodiversity and resilience of smallholder farmers is an 
        efficient engine of sustainable economic growth, and benefits 
        these farmers' education, income, and health.
            (12) Agriculture is essential for economic growth, 
        comprising large portions of the total labor force in many 
        developing countries. The agricultural sector is as high as 70 
        to 80 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one-half of 
        the world's food insecure live. In this region agriculture also 
        contributes about 35 percent of the total gross national 
        product (GNP).
            (13) Post-harvest losses can waste 40 percent of 
        agriculture products and negatively impact nutritional content 
        of crops. A renewed focus on reducing post-harvest losses is 
        needed to meet the goal of increasing income generation from 
        agricultural production.
            (14) Women produce as much as 80 percent of food in sub-
        Saharan Africa, but have access to less than 10 percent of 
        land, credit, and extension services. Women comprise 43 percent 
        of the agricultural labor workforce in developing countries. 
        They make up a large proportion of smallholder farmers, 
        including 80 percent in East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and 
        face unique challenges and heightened vulnerability to food and 
        nutrition insecurity. Increasing women's leadership, incomes, 
        and access to food benefits the entire household as women are 
        more likely to share these resources with family members.
            (15) The International Food Policy Research Institute 
        (IFPRI) and others have documented growing numbers of 
        acquisitions and lease agreements of millions of acres of land 
        in Africa, Latin America, and Central and Southeast Asia by 
        private investors and foreign governments. These land 
        acquisitions may threaten global food and nutrition security 
        and agricultural development, increase political unrest, and 
        deepen local poverty in developing nations unless adequate 
        legal and procedural mechanisms are in place and functioning to 
        protect the rights and welfare of people who depend on 
        agriculture for their livelihood.
            (16) The accelerating loss and degradation of natural 
        ecosystems in developing countries and changing long-term 
        weather patterns undermine and impact efforts to improve 
        sustainable agricultural production. According to the World 
        Bank, changing weather patterns could reduce yields in some 
        developing countries by as much as 50 percent. This could leave 
        millions more children undernourished.
            (17) A comprehensive approach to long-term food security 
        and agricultural development should encompass improvements in 
        agricultural education, agricultural productivity, agricultural 
        extension, nutrition, household incomes, rural infrastructure, 
        finance and markets, safety net programs, job creation, 
        research and technology, emergency relief, global health and 
        the environment.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
        Development.
            (2) Agricultural development.--The term ``agricultural 
        development'' means methods to use agriculture as a basis for 
        food and nutrition security, family livelihood, and economic 
        growth by increasing the productivity of those involved in the 
        cultivation of food, fuel, and fiber, conserving the 
        environment and natural resources, and improving the economic 
        livelihoods of those involved, including farmers, fishers, 
        foresters, and pastoralists, particularly those that operate on 
        a small scale, and linking them and their products to markets, 
        including post-harvest activities such as storage, processing, 
        transport, and improving market efficiency.
            (3) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (4) Chronic food insecurity.--The term ``chronic food 
        insecurity'' means ongoing and persistent lack of access to 
        sufficient food to meet dietary needs for an active and healthy 
        life.
            (5) Ecosystem services.--The term ``ecosystem services'' 
        means natural goods, services, and processes that the 
        environment provides and on which people depend and from which 
        they benefit, such as pollination, water cycles and regulation, 
        pest control, and soil formation.
            (6) Extreme poverty.--The term ``extreme poverty'' means 
        income of less than one-half of the poverty level as defined by 
        the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for 
        the relevant year.
            (7) Food security.--The term ``food security'' means the 
        condition of having, at all times, access to nutritious, 
        affordable, sufficient, and safe food to maintain a healthy and 
        active life.
            (8) Malnutrition.--The term ``malnutrition'' means poor 
        nutritional status caused by nutritional deficiency or excess.
            (9) Resilience.--The term ``resilience'' means the ability 
        of people, households, communities, countries and systems to 
        mitigate, adapt to, recover from, and withstand events that 
        result in social disruption and economic hardship.
            (10) Rural infrastructure.--The term ``rural 
        infrastructure''--
                    (A) means public and private facilities and 
                services necessary for agricultural production and 
                other activities in non-urban (rural) areas; and
                    (B) includes roads or other means of 
                transportation, water supplies including irrigation, 
                rural electrification, communication technology, 
                financial services, storage, warehousing, and 
                processing facilities needed for increasing 
                agricultural production and linking producers to 
                markets, including policies and regulations of such 
                sectors in addition to physical infrastructure.
            (11) Smallholder.--The term ``smallholder'' refers to 
        farmers with a low asset base, limited resources including 
        land, capital, skills and labor, and farming less than 5 
        hectares of land.
            (12) Strategy.--The term ``strategy'' means the United 
        States Comprehensive Global Food Security strategy outlined in 
        section 102.
            (13) Stunted; stunting.--The terms ``stunted'' and 
        ``stunting'' mean a condition--
                    (A) of being too short for one's age, with a 
                height-to-age ratio that is more than 2 standard 
                deviations below the median for the population;
                    (B) caused by poor diet and frequent infections, 
                occurring before age 2, and is a sign of chronic 
                malnutrition; and
                    (C) leading to long-term poor health, delayed motor 
                development, and impaired cognitive function and 
                decreased immunity.
            (14) Undernutrtiton.--The term ``undernutrition''--
                    (A) means several outcomes of insufficient food 
                intake, such as being underweight for one's age, too 
                short for one's age (stunted), dangerously thin for 
                one's height (wasted), or deficient in vitamins and 
                minerals (micronutrient malnutrition); and
                    (B) can be identified by anthropometric indices 
                (underweight, stunting, and wasting) or by the missing 
                micronutrients in poor-quality diets.
            (15) Voluntary guidelines.--The term ``Voluntary 
        Guidelines'' means the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible 
        Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the 
        Context of National Food Security, adopted with the leadership 
        of the United States throughout the negotiation process, in May 
        2012 at the Special 38th Session of the United Nations 
        Committee on Global Food Security. The objective of the 
        Voluntary Guidelines is to improve food security through land 
        governance for the benefit of all, with an emphasis on 
        vulnerable and marginalized people.
            (16) Wasting.--The term ``wasting'', with respect to an 
        individual, means the condition of weighing too little for such 
        individual's height. Wasting indicates both long- and short-
        term nutritional deprivation. Wasting is a traumatic process of 
        substantial weight loss that is usually associated with 
        starvation or serious disease. Wasting is calculated by 
        comparing a child's weight-for-height with those of a reference 
        population of well-nourished and healthy children. Because 
        wasting is strongly related to mortality, wasting rates are 
        often used to indicate the severity of hunger emergencies.

         TITLE I--POLICY OBJECTIVES, PLANNING AND COORDINATION

SEC. 101. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States to assist foreign countries 
in achieving food and nutrition security by increasing sustainable and 
equitable agricultural production, improving nutrition, and 
strengthening agricultural value chains, with a focus on smallholder 
farmers, in order to reduce global hunger, malnutrition and poverty, 
promote rural development, and improve the nutritional status of all 
people.

SEC. 102. COMPREHENSIVE GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY STRATEGY.

    (a) Special Coordinator.--The President shall designate an 
individual to serve in the Executive Office of the President as the 
Special Coordinator for Food, Nutrition and Agricultural Development. 
The coordinator shall--
            (1) advise the President on global food security, nutrition 
        security, and agricultural development;
            (2) take such actions as are necessary to ensure the 
        coordination of programs of the United States related to global 
        food security, nutrition security, and agricultural development 
        efforts, including those resulting from contributions to 
        multilateral organizations and nongovernmental organizations;
            (3) make recommendations regarding the staffing needs and 
        necessary qualifications and expertise of staff needed to 
        swiftly and effectively carry out the strategy described in 
        subsection (c);
            (4) establish a mechanism for regular consultation with 
        representatives of Federal departments and agencies, 
        multilateral institutions, private voluntary organizations, 
        cooperatives, the private sector, and other nongovernmental 
        organizations to develop the strategy described in subsection 
        (c) and to consult on methodologies, conditions in targeted 
        countries, progress towards goals and other relevant 
        information about needs and interventions; and
            (5) oversee the development and implementation of the 
        strategy described in subsection (c).
    (b) Implementation.--The United States Agency for International 
Development shall be the lead agency in implementing the strategy 
described in subsection (c).
    (c) Content of Strategy.--The strategy described in this subsection 
is a comprehensive food security, nutrition security, and agricultural 
development strategy that shall--
            (1) recognize food security and nutrition as essential 
        contributors to global development, health, peace and 
        stability;
            (2) reflect a whole-of-government approach that 
        incorporates and encompasses the programs of relevant Federal 
        departments and agencies that engage in some aspect of food 
        security, nutrition security, agricultural development, and 
        international health, including the Department of State, the 
        United States Agency for International Development, the Peace 
        Corps, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of 
        Defense, the Department of Interior, the Millennium Challenge 
        Corporation, the Department of the Treasury, and the Office of 
        the United States Trade Representative;
            (3) integrate and coordinate the stages of emergency food 
        aid and long-term development programs to more effectively 
        reduce hunger, improve nutrition, improve health, and build 
        economic capacity and resilience among food insecure 
        populations, especially for smallholder farmers;
            (4) increase and improve agricultural production and 
        availability, access, utilization, and stability of food among 
        women and smallholder farmers in order to decrease poverty and 
        hunger, improve health, and prevent stunting, as the most 
        direct means for achieving household food and nutrition 
        security;
            (5) increase the yield and capacity of smallholder farmers, 
        through access to seed and fertilizer, assistance for 
        sustainable agricultural production, village-level farming 
        groups, farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchanges, agriculture value 
        chains, agricultural extension agents, market access, 
        innovative intellectual property frameworks, food safety nets 
        for the most vulnerable, agricultural education, nutrition, 
        agricultural research, natural resource management, 
        improvements to land tenure, and rural infrastructure;
            (6) assist smallholder farmers in obtaining the resources, 
        services, tools, and information they need including 
        technology, financial services, seed varieties, fertilizer, 
        risk management, post-harvest storage systems, water, soil 
        conservation methods, ecologically appropriate nutrient, soil, 
        water, seed and pest management, weather forecasting and 
        projections in ways that assure gender equitable access;
            (7) prioritize research efforts that respond to the needs 
        and priorities of smallholder farmers, including farmer-driven 
        research, recognize that research must include both 
        international and localized agricultural research and extension 
        programs, and strive to build the educational capacity of 
        smallholder farmers;
            (8) incorporate research efforts to better understand 
        causes of gender inequity in agriculture, and expand research 
        in best practices in achieving nutrition outcomes through 
        agriculture, social protection, women's empowerment and other 
        sector programs;
            (9) build the resilience of smallholder farmers through 
        agricultural extension services, village-level farmer groups, 
        risk assessment and management tools, such as micro-insurance, 
        and dissemination of research to farmers, increase ability of 
        smallholder farmers to access inputs, technology, and 
        information, to connect with markets, to engage in local and 
        national planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation 
        regarding food and nutrition and related issues, to undertake 
        new or diversified production while maintaining stable food 
        supply, to be resilient in the face of shocks and stresses, and 
        to respond to projected changes in weather patterns;
            (10) target investments in appropriate technologies and 
        approaches to increase sustainable agricultural production, 
        improve post-harvest storage, enhance family livelihood and 
        nutrition, stimulate broad-based economic growth, and improve 
        access to local, regional, and international markets;
            (11) target research, development of new technologies, 
        extension agents, and funding towards the goal of reducing 
        post-harvest losses by 50 percent or more;
            (12) incorporate approaches directed at reducing hunger and 
        malnutrition for people living in extreme poverty and those 
        most vulnerable to malnutrition, especially pregnant and 
        lactating women, children in their first 1,000 days, and 
        children under age 5, adolescent girls, communities in hard to 
        reach areas, and marginalized populations, including 
        availability, access, nutritional education, consumption and 
        utilization of food, and delivery platforms such as community 
        health workers;
            (13) recognize international food assistance programs as 
        important to improving maternal and child health through 
        improved nutrition among the poorest and most vulnerable 
        populations, and focus on increasing their flexibility to 
        increase program efficiency, impact, and the number of people 
        reached;
            (14) address the nutritional needs of pregnant and 
        lactating mothers, children in their first 1,000 days, children 
        who have not attained the age of 5, and adolescent girls, and 
        recognize the importance of prioritizing interventions, such as 
        exclusive breast-feeding, complementary feeding practices, iron 
        folate supplements, Vitamin A and zinc supplements, good 
        hygiene and other evidence-based interventions;
            (15) prioritize, support, and promote the central role of 
        women in agricultural production and related activities, 
        including in household, local, and national decision-making 
        processes, in the countries of operation; ensure programs and 
        approaches address the special needs of women farmers, women 
        living in poverty, and the needs of all people who are 
        agriculturalists, pastoralists, or otherwise engaged in 
        agriculture-related enterprises; ensure use of gender analysis 
        to enable identification of barriers and relevant interventions 
        to address gender inequality;
            (16) uphold and promote the principle of free, prior, and 
        informed consent in relation to land access and use rights; 
        monitor and document the trend of large scale land acquisitions 
        and lease agreements in developing countries; promote global 
        standards of transparency for large international land deals;
            (17) expand and prioritize United States assistance 
        programs that strengthen land management in developing 
        countries and actively support efforts to develop guidelines 
        and support applications of land governance tools;
            (18) include and provide appropriate linkages with existing 
        United States international water, energy, forest, weather and 
        biodiversity programs; include assessment and monitoring of the 
        effects of global changing weather patterns; prioritize the 
        enhancement of natural resources and ecosystem resilience and 
        the reduction of negative environmental impacts from 
        agricultural activities through sustainable natural resource 
        management practices including building local capacity and 
        transferring skills and knowledge;
            (19) ensure inclusion and consideration of assessments and 
        projections of the impacts of changing weather patterns on 
        program priorities, objectives and beneficiaries; promote 
        inclusion of local knowledge and perceptions of local 
        conditions; prioritize the enhancement of human capacity to 
        respond to increasing extreme weather events and current and 
        projected changes in weather patterns;
            (20) prioritize the enhancement of natural resources and 
        ecosystem goods and services and the reduction of negative 
        environmental impacts from agricultural activities through 
        sustainable natural resource management practices including 
        building local capacity and transferring skills and knowledge;
            (21) support capacity building of national governments to 
        administer safety net and social protection programs that 
        connect, integrate and expand existing programs to meet food 
        and nutrition security objectives and target the chronically 
        hungry and poor;
            (22) support national governments' efforts to strengthen 
        the quality, ambition, and coverage of national nutrition 
        plans, through community health workers and other approaches;
            (23) include specific, measurable metrics, goals, 
        benchmarks, time frames, and a plan of action to achieve the 
        objectives described in section 101;
            (24) with respect to such metrics shall include annual 
        evaluation of improved nutritional status of women and 
        children, prevalence of stunted children, prevalence of wasted 
        children, prevalence of underweight women, prevalence of anemia 
        among women and children, sustainable agricultural sector 
        growth, changes in agricultural sector GDP, changes in rural 
        income levels, changes in per capita expenditures in rural 
        households, knowledge of smallholder farmers regarding 
        effective farming practices, increased empowerment of women 
        smallholder farmers, and numbers of beneficiaries reached;
            (25) provide for annual monitoring and evaluations of 
        programs that shall include gender analysis and gender 
        disaggregated data and address progress toward improvements in 
        emergency assistance, access to food, availability of food, 
        nutritional value of food, utilization of food, agricultural 
        development, agricultural education, and capacity to manage 
        risk among food insecure populations;
            (26) include aggregated reporting of indicators such as 
        increases in income, poverty reduction, agricultural 
        productivity and child stunting in order to clearly show the 
        total impact of the United States investment in changing lives;
            (27) include community-level capacity building, 
        agricultural extension services, enhancements to agricultural 
        infrastructure and productivity; increased access to financial 
        services and markets, research and technology, credit and 
        markets, availability and functioning of local institutions 
        serving rural communities' needs, such as farmer-owned 
        cooperatives, safety net programs, job creation, household 
        incomes, research and technology, global health and the 
        environment;
            (28) utilize the expertise of private voluntary 
        organizations and cooperatives, international organizations, 
        community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and 
        local administrators to improve the sustainability and 
        productivity of agriculture, increase access to markets, 
        enhance infrastructure, promote economic opportunity, address 
        food and nutrition security and agricultural development needs 
        at the household and community level, and protect the natural 
        resource base on which rural, agricultural communities depend;
            (29) ensure United States investments in promoting food and 
        nutrition security address key determinants of food insecurity, 
        particularly--
                    (A) availability and access, through investments in 
                agricultural productivity, value chains and market 
                development, and equitable distribution of and control 
                over productive resources;
                    (B) utilization of food, through a multifaceted 
                approach to nutrition; and
                    (C) stability, through ensuring that effective 
                mechanisms are in place to address chronic and cyclical 
                food insecurity; and
            (30) ensure and promote--
                    (A) alignment with and support of the Comprehensive 
                Africa Agriculture Development Program and other 
                recipient country and regional strategies for 
                addressing sustainable agricultural development;
                    (B) coordination and integration of food and 
                nutrition security programs between departments and 
                agencies described in paragraph (2) and between 
                relevant bureaus within the United States Agency for 
                International Development, including the Bureau of Food 
                Security, the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and 
                Humanitarian Affairs, the Bureau of Economic Growth, 
                Education and the Environment, and the Bureau for 
                Global Health;
                    (C) inclusion of the resources of both public, 
                private sector, and local private sector providers of 
                appropriate agriculture inputs, processors, and 
                marketers, including through the Global Development 
                Alliances of the United States Agency for International 
                Development and other measures;
                    (D) ensuring that private sector investments comply 
                with the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance 
                of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the 
                Context of National Food Security regarding large-scale 
                transactions;
                    (E) consultation and coordination at national and 
                local levels with local and international academic and 
                research communities, civil society, representatives of 
                small-scale food providers, United States and 
                international nongovernmental organizations, 
                cooperatives, international organizations, 
                international financial institutions, the governments 
                of developing and developed countries, and other 
                program implementers;
                    (F) consultation with and engagement of local civil 
                society, local communities, farmer groups and 
                cooperatives, and women's groups in inclusive planning 
                processes as well as the implementation and monitoring 
                and evaluation of programs; and
                    (G) national government capacity to coordinate food 
                and nutrition security planning and programs across all 
                relevant ministries and levels of government, including 
                the ability to implement comprehensive plans and 
                programs to scale up nutrition intervention and through 
                linkages with complementary health, water and 
                sanitation systems.

SEC. 103. REPORTS.

    (a) Annual Reports.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and not later than December 31 of 
        each year thereafter through 2019, the President shall submit 
        to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the 
        implementation of the strategy described in section 102(c) and 
        how it fulfills the policy objectives described in section 101.
            (2) Content.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall 
        include--
                    (A) a copy of the strategy and an indication of any 
                changes made in the strategy during the preceding 
                calendar year;
                    (B) an assessment of progress made during the 
                preceding calendar year toward meeting the objectives 
                described in section 101 and the specific goals, 
                benchmarks, and time frames specified in the strategy 
                described in section 102(c);
                    (C) a description of United States Government 
                bilateral programs, and investments in multilateral 
                institutions, contributing to the achievement of the 
                objectives described in section 101, including the 
                amounts expended on such programs during the preceding 
                fiscal year;
                    (D) an assessment of United States efforts to 
                encourage business and philanthropic participation in 
                United States food and nutrition security and 
                agricultural development programs, and to coordinate, 
                harmonize, and align such programs with similar efforts 
                of international organizations, international financial 
                institutions, the governments of developing and 
                developed countries, and United States and 
                international nongovernmental organizations;
                    (E) an assessment of progress made and capacity 
                gaps in implementing and institutionalizing a 
                comprehensive approach to food and nutrition security, 
                including integration of cross-cutting issues such as 
                gender, environment, and nutrition, through 
                coordinating and integrating global food and nutrition 
                security and agricultural development research 
                activities with other United States bilateral and 
                multilateral development efforts in the areas of 
                operation;
                    (F) an assessment of land tenure rights and land 
                purchases within each country and their consistency 
                with the Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure;
                    (G) a description of those countries with the 
                greatest level of food insecurity, stunting, and 
                malnutrition for the primary goal of increasing food 
                and nutrition security; and
                    (H) a transparent, open, and detailed budget of 
                agriculture and food security spending and progress 
                pertaining to the strategy described in section 102(c).
            (3) Government accountability office report.--Not later 
        than 270 days after the submission of each report under 
        paragraph (1), the Comptroller General of the United States 
        shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
        report that contains--
                    (A) a review of, and comments addressing, the 
                report submitted under paragraph (1); and
                    (B) recommendations relating to any additional 
                actions the Comptroller General believes are important 
                to improve a global food security, nutrition security, 
                and agricultural development strategy and its 
                implementation.
    (b) Five-Year Program Review.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a report containing--
                    (A) an assessment of progress made during the 
                preceding 4 years toward meeting the objectives 
                described in section 101 and the specific goals, 
                benchmarks, and time frames specified in the strategy 
                described in section 102(c); and
                    (B) an evaluation of the impact during the 
                preceding 5 years of United States food and nutrition 
                security programs on food security, agricultural 
                development, nutrition, health, stunting, water and 
                soil health, biodiversity, and economic growth in 
                countries suffering from chronic food insecurity.
            (2) Basis for report.--The report required under paragraph 
        (1) shall be based on assessments and impact evaluations 
        utilizing sound quantitative and qualitative methodologies and 
        techniques used in the behavioral and social sciences, and 
        shall incorporate the views of smallholder farmers in the 
        recipient countries.
    (c) Availability to Public.--Each report required under this 
section shall also be made available to the public.

                      TITLE II--BILATERAL PROGRAMS

SEC. 201. AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, AND NUTRITION.

    (a) Authority.--Section 103(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151a(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and malnutrition'' 
        and inserting ``stunting, and malnutrition'';
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``; and'' and 
        inserting a semicolon;
            (3) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
                    ``(D) to improve nutrition of vulnerable 
                populations, such as children under the age of 5, women 
                of reproductive age, pregnant or lactating women, 
                including through programs of nutrition and health 
                improvement for mothers and children, including but not 
                limited to breastfeeding and all other optimal infant 
                and young child feeding, as well as food-based 
                approaches such as diet diversification, home gardening 
                and nutritional education linked to agricultural 
                extension;
                    ``(E) to expand the economic participation of 
                women, people living in extreme poverty and those who 
                lack access to agriculturally productive land, 
                including but not limited to through development of 
                rural infrastructure, disaster risk reduction, health 
                and nutrition programs, access to local and 
                international markets, and by integration of those 
                living in extreme poverty into the economy;
                    ``(F) to improve smallholder farmers' agricultural 
                productivity, income, education, capacity, and ability 
                to manage risk including but not limited to through the 
                expansion and improvement of agricultural and food 
                enterprises, access to seed, fertilizer, and extension 
                agents, farmer to farmer exchanges, cooperatives and 
                associations focused on increasing the productivity and 
                incomes of these farmers through the transfer of skills 
                and knowledge; and through the enhancement of access to 
                information, resources, tools, equipment, seeds, 
                technology, and planning and decisionmaking processes;
                    ``(G) to support natural resource management, 
                conservation management, sustainable water management 
                and other sustainable agricultural techniques to build 
                resilience to shocks and stresses, adapt to changes in 
                weather patterns, and respond to projected changes in 
                water shortages while protecting natural resources;
                    ``(H) to promote global standards of transparency 
                for international land deals, strengthen programs to 
                provide land tenure to international smallholder 
                farmers, and actively support the principle of free, 
                prior and informed consent in relation to land rights 
                and access; and
                    ``(I) to use the best available metrics, 
                measurements, and data analysis tools to monitor, 
                measure and evaluate effectiveness of such aid, with 
                reduction in stunting, decrease in poverty, and 
                increase in smallholder farmers' agricultural 
                production being key components of evaluating 
                effectiveness.''.
    (b) Priority and Other Requirements.--Section 103 of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151a) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new subsection:
    ``(h) Priority and Other Requirements.--In providing assistance 
under this section, the President shall meet the following priority and 
other requirements:
            ``(1) Assistance under this section shall be used primarily 
        for activities that are specifically designed to meet the 
        purposes described in subsection (a)(1), including such 
        activities as--
                    ``(A) expansion and improvement of agricultural and 
                food enterprises, cooperatives and associations that 
                can increase the productivity and incomes of the poor 
                in part through the transfer of skills and knowledge;
                    ``(B) linking farmers, entrepreneurs, enterprises 
                and institutions in poor areas with regional and 
                national businesses, institutions and systems;
                    ``(C) providing access to markets, inputs, 
                financing, extension services, and appropriate 
                technologies for the rural poor;
                    ``(D) expansion of rural infrastructure and 
                utilities such as farm-to-market roads, water 
                management systems, land improvement, storage 
                facilities, and energy, specifically renewable energy 
                whenever practicable;
                    ``(E) establishment of more equitable and more 
                secure land tenure and resource rights arrangements; 
                and
                    ``(F) creation and strengthening of systems to 
                provide other services and supplies needed by farmers, 
                such as extension, research, training, financing, 
                fertilizer, water, forestry, soil conservation, and 
                improved seed, in ways which assure gender equitable 
                access to such services and supplies by small farmers.
            ``(2) In circumstances in which development of major 
        infrastructure is necessary to achieve the purposes of 
        subsection (a), assistance for those purposes may only be 
        provided under this section in association with significant 
        contributions from other countries working together in a 
        multilateral framework. Infrastructure projects so assisted 
        should be environmentally sensitive and complemented by other 
        measures to ensure that the benefits of the infrastructure 
        projects reach the poor.
            ``(3) Where appropriate to meet the purposes of subsection 
        (a), assistance shall be provided under this section to 
        maintain, enhance and value ecosystem goods and services in 
        developing countries. Such assistance shall include the 
        protection of watersheds and soil, sustainable agricultural, 
        forest, fisheries, and agro-forest management, and the 
        provision of alternative household fuels that reduce demand for 
        and emissions from the combustion of local forest resources.''.
    (c) Private Voluntary Organizations and Cooperatives.--In providing 
assistance under section 103 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2151a) for purposes described in subparagraphs (D) through (I) 
of section 103(a)(1) of such Act, as added by subsection (a) of this 
section, the President shall enter into partnerships with and provide 
grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance to private 
voluntary organizations and cooperatives to mobilize and assist low-
income populations.

SEC. 202. AGRICULTURAL AND NUTRITION RESEARCH.

    Section 103A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2151a-1) is amended in the first sentence--
            (1) by striking ``, and (3) make'' and inserting ``, (3) 
        make''; and
            (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``, (4) 
        include research, including farmer-driven research, on 
        technological advances appropriate to local ecological 
        condition, culture, and the desires, needs, and priorities of 
        the local communities, and (5) include research on the effects 
        and ways to address the effects of changing weather patterns on 
        agriculture and nutrition and the measures or techniques 
        necessary to enhance the capacity of local communities to adapt 
        to observed or anticipated effects through conservation 
        management and other techniques.''.
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