I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1894

To supplement current activities in the exchange of agricultural and farming

expertise by establishing a grant program to support bilateral exchange

programs whereby African American and other American farmers share

technical knowledge with African and Caribbean Basin farmers regarding

maximization of crop yields, use of risk management tools, expansion

of agricultural trade, use of new financial instruments to increase access

to credit, and other ways to improve farming methods, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 17, 2001

Mrs. CLAYTON (for herself, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. BEREUTER, Ms.

KAPTUR, Mr. LEACH, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. OSBORNE, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD,

Mr. GILMAN, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BISHOP, Mrs.

MORELLA, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. HOUGHTON, and Mr. HASTINGS of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of

the committee concerned

A BILL

To supplement current activities in the exchange of agricultural and farming expertise by establishing a grant program to support bilateral exchange programs whereby

African American and other American farmers share

technical knowledge with African and Caribbean Basin

farmers regarding maximization of crop yields, use of

risk management tools, expansion of agricultural trade,
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use of new financial instruments to increase access to

credit, and other ways to improve farming methods, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farmers to Africa and

5 the Caribbean Basin Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Many African farmers and farmers in Car9 ibbean Basin countries use antiquated techniques to

10 produce their crops, which results in poor crop qual11 ity and low crop yields.

12 (2) Many of these farmers are losing business

13 to farmers in European and Asian countries who use

14 advanced planting and production techniques and

15 are supplying agricultural produce to restaurants,

16 resorts, tourists, grocery stores, and other con17 sumers in Africa and Caribbean Basin countries.

18 (3) A need exists for the training of African

19 farmers and farmers in Caribbean Basin countries

20 and other developing countries in state-of-the-art

21 farming techniques regarding standard growing

22 practices, insecticide and sanitation procedures, and
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1 other farming methods that will produce increased

2 yields of more nutritious and healthful crops.

3 (4) African-American and other American farm4 ers, including banking and insurance professionals,

5 are a ready source of agribusiness expertise that

6 would be invaluable for African farmers and farmers

7 in Caribbean Basin countries.

8 (5) A United States commitment is appropriate

9 to support the development of a comprehensive agri10 cultural skills training program for these farmers

11 that focuses on—

12 (A) improving knowledge of insecticide and

13 sanitation procedures to prevent crop destruc14 tion;

15 (B) teaching modern farming techniques,

16 including the identification and development of

17 standard growing practices and the establish18 ment of systems for recordkeeping, that would

19 facilitate a continual analysis of crop produc20 tion;

21 (C) the use and maintenance of state-of22 the-art farming equipment;

23 (D) expansion of small farming operations

24 into agribusiness enterprises through the devel25 opment and use of village banking systems and
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1 the use of agricultural risk insurance pilot prod2 ucts, resulting in increased access to credit for

3 these farmers; and

4 (E) marketing crop yields to prospective

5 purchasers (businesses and individuals) for local

6 needs and export.

7 (6) The participation of African-American and

8 other American farmers and American agricultural

9 farming specialists in such a training program prom10 ises the added benefit of improving access to African

11 and Caribbean Basin markets for American farmers

12 and United States farm equipment and products and

13 business linkages for United States insurance pro14 viders offering agricultural risk insurance products

15 and technical assistance.

16 (7) Existing programs that promote the ex17 change of agricultural knowledge and expertise

18 through the exchange of American and foreign farm19 ers have been effective in promoting improved agri20 cultural techniques and food security and thus the

21 extension of additional resources to such farmer to

22 farmer exchanges is warranted.

23 SEC. 3. FARMERS FOR AFRICA AND CARIBBEAN BASIN PRO24 GRAM.

25 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
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1 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of Agriculture.

3 (2) AGRICULTURAL FARMING SPECIALIST.—The

4 term ‘‘agricultural farming specialist’’ means an in5 dividual trained to transfer information and tech6 nical support relating to agribusiness, food security,

7 the mitigation and alleviation of hunger, the mitiga8 tion of agricultural and farm risk, maximization of

9 crop yields, agricultural trade, and other needs spe10 cific to a geographical location as determined by the

11 Secretary.

12 (3) ELIGIBLE FARMER.—The term ‘‘eligible

13 farmer’’ means an individual owning or working on

14 farm land (as defined by a particular country’s laws

15 relating to property) in the sub-Saharan region of

16 the continent of Africa, in a Caribbean Basin coun17 try, or in any other developing country in which the

18 Secretary determines there is a need for farming ex19 pertise or for information or technical support de20 scribed in paragraph (2).

21 (4) CARIBBEAN BASIN COUNTRY.—The term

22 ‘‘Caribbean basin country’’ means a country eligible

23 for designation as a beneficiary country under sec24 tion 212 of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery

25 Act (19 U.S.C. 2702).
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1 (5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means

2 the Farmers for Africa and Caribbean Basin Pro3 gram established under this section.

4 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary

5 shall establish a grant program, to be known as the

6 ‘‘Farmers for Africa and Caribbean Basin Program’’, to

7 assist eligible organizations in carrying out bilateral ex8 change programs whereby African-American and other

9 American farmers and American agricultural farming spe10 cialists share technical knowledge with eligible farmers

11 regarding—

12 (1) maximization of crop yields;

13 (2) use of agricultural risk insurance as finan14 cial tools and a means of risk management (as al15 lowed by Annex II of the World Trade Organization

16 rules);

17 (3) expansion of trade in agricultural products;

18 (4) enhancement of local food security;

19 (5) the mitigation and alleviation of hunger;

20 and

21 (6) other ways to improve farming in countries

22 in which there are eligible farmers.

23 (c) ELIGIBLE GRANTEES.—The Secretary may make

24 a grant under the Program to—
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1 (1) a college or university, including a histori2 cally black college or university, or a foundation

3 maintained by a college or university; and

4 (2) a private organization or corporation, in5 cluding grassroots organizations, with an established

6 and demonstrated capacity to carry out such a bilat7 eral exchange program.

8 (d) TERMS OF PROGRAM.—(1) It is the goal of the

9 Program that at least 1,000 farmers participate in the

10 training program by December 31, 2005, of which at least

11 800 will be African farmers or farmers in Caribbean Basin

12 countries and 200 will be American farmers.

13 (2) Training under the Program will be provided to

14 eligible farmers in groups to ensure that information is

15 shared and passed on to other eligible farmers. Eligible

16 farmers will be trained to be specialists in their home com17 munities and will be encouraged not to retain enhanced

18 farming technology for their own personal enrichment.

19 (3) Through partnerships with American businesses,

20 the Program will utilize the commercial industrial capa21 bility of businesses dealing in agriculture to train eligible

22 farmers on state-of-the-art equipment and to introduce eli23 gible farmers to the use of insurance as a risk manage24 ment tool.
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1 (e) SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS.—(1) The selection

2 of eligible farmers, as well as African-American and other

3 American farmers and agricultural farming specialists, to

4 participate in the Program shall be made by grant recipi5 ents using an application process approved by the Sec6 retary.

7 (2) Participating farmers must meet certain edu8 cational requirements and targets regarding the produc9 tivity of their farm or agribusiness.

10 (f) GRANT PERIOD.—The Secretary may make

11 grants under the Program during a period of 5 years be12 ginning on October 1 of the first fiscal year for which

13 funds are made available to carry out the Program.

14 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

15 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

16 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2006.

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