health, environmental protection, and democratic in-
stitutions. 
(3) According to the March 2013 Worldwide 
Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Commu-
nity, 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 dis-
credit governments for their inability to address 
basic needs’’. 
(4) In the next 30 years, as the world’s popu-
lation increases to nine billion people, agricultural 
productivity will need to double to keep pace with 
demand. Countries that are major agricultural ex-
porters 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 produc-
tivity in those countries in a sustainable and equi-
table manner will increase world food supplies and 
accelerate economic growth and incomes, while pre-
serving natural habitat and resources. 
(5) Malnutrition remains one of the world’s 
most 
pressing 
and 
costly 
problems—close 
to 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
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 under-
nutrition. 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, im-
proving cognitive and physical development, and 
strengthening the immune system to bolster resist-
ance 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 preg-
nancy is vitally important. 
(8) The greatest potential for achieving in-
creased food and nutrition security for people in 
rural areas and augmenting world food production 
at relatively low cost lies in increasing the agricul-
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
tural capacity, resilience, sustainability and produc-
tivity of smallholder farmers. Farmers should be ac-
tively 
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 ex-
tension 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 per-
cent of the total gross national product (GNP). Ap-
proximately 75 percent of the workforce in sub-Sa-
haran 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 ag-
ricultural 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 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
food supplies, improving incomes and preserving nat-
ural habitat. 
(11) Agriculture development to increase the 
yield, biodiversity and resilience of smallholder farm-
ers is an efficient engine of sustainable economic 
growth, and benefits these farmers’ education, in-
come, 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 in-
secure live. In this region agriculture also contrib-
utes about 35 percent of the total gross national 
product (GNP). 
(13) Post-harvest losses can waste 40 percent 
of agriculture products and negatively impact nutri-
tional content of crops. A renewed focus on reducing 
post-harvest losses is needed to meet the goal of in-
creasing income generation from agricultural pro-
duction. 
(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 serv-
ices. Women comprise 43 percent of the agricultural 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
labor workforce in developing countries. They make 
up a large proportion of smallholder farmers, includ-
ing 80 percent in East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, 
and face unique challenges and heightened vulner-
ability 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 agree-
ments of millions of acres of land in Africa, Latin 
America, and Central and Southeast Asia by private 
investors and foreign governments. These land ac-
quisitions may threaten global food and nutrition se-
curity and agricultural development, increase polit-
ical unrest, and deepen local poverty in developing 
nations unless adequate legal and procedural mecha-
nisms are in place and functioning to protect the 
rights and welfare of people who depend on agri-
culture 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 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
production. According to the World Bank, changing 
weather patterns could reduce yields in some devel-
oping 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, nu-
trition, household incomes, rural infrastructure, fi-
nance and markets, safety net programs, job cre-
ation, research and technology, emergency relief, 
global health and the environment. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ 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 secu-
rity, family livelihood, and economic growth by in-
creasing the productivity of those involved in the cul-
tivation of food, fuel, and fiber, conserving the envi-
ronment and natural resources, and improving the 
economic livelihoods of those involved, including 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
farmers, fishers, foresters, and pastoralists, particu-
larly those that operate on a small scale, and linking 
them and their products to markets, including post- 
harvest activities such as storage, processing, trans-
port, and improving market efficiency. 
(3) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ 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 per-
sistent lack of access to sufficient food to meet die-
tary needs for an active and healthy life. 
(5) ECOSYSTEM
SERVICES.—The term ‘‘eco-
system 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. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(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 secu-
rity’’ means the condition of having, at all times, ac-
cess 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, coun-
tries and systems to mitigate, adapt to, recover 
from, and withstand events that result in social dis-
ruption 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 irriga-
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
tion, rural electrification, communication tech-
nology, 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 infrastruc-
ture. 
(11) SMALLHOLDER.—The term ‘‘smallholder’’ 
refers to farmers with a low asset base, limited re-
sources 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 Secu-
rity strategy outlined in section 102. 
(13) STUNTED; STUNTING.—The terms ‘‘stunt-
ed’’ 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 stand-
ard deviations below the median for the popu-
lation; 
(B) caused by poor diet and frequent infec-
tions, occurring before age 2, and is a sign of 
chronic malnutrition; and 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(C) leading to long-term poor health, de-
layed motor development, and impaired cog-
nitive function and decreased immunity. 
(14) UNDERNUTRTITON.—The term ‘‘under-
nutrition’’— 
(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 (micro-
nutrient malnutrition); and 
(B) can be identified by anthropometric in-
dices (underweight, stunting, and wasting) or 
by the missing micronutrients in poor-quality 
diets. 
(15) 
VOLUNTARY
GUIDELINES.—The 
term 
‘‘Voluntary Guidelines’’ means the Voluntary Guide-
lines 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 ben-
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:38 Jul 27, 2013
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2822.IH
H2822
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS