Charles P. Taft. chairman of the State Departments advisory committee on voluntary foreign aid. The report noted the vast abundance and surplus of American agriculture. and the continuing challenge to use this abundance effectively"as the flood of refugees swells and more people become the victims of violence over which they have no control." The report specifically mentioned the needs of a million refugees who fled from North to South Vietnam. the Chinese refugees in Hong Kong. the Hungarian refugees in Europe. the Arab refugees in the Middle East. and others. The report went on to express the agencies concern over the fact that many commodities. "made available by the Department of Agriculture as a result of legislation." were being "withdrawn from availability." The report made a number of recommendations. First. the report recommended that rice be kept on the availability list for overseas distribution by the agencies. Rice was one of several commodities which the Department of Agriculture had suddenly withdrawn from the listcontrary to the expressed wishes of Congress. and despite the fact that some of the hungriest peoples in the world. including the destitute refugees in Asia. were rice eaters. Second. the report recommended that our vast wheat surpluses be processed into a formcalled bulgur wheatacceptable for consumption by the millions of people being served by the agencies overseas. Third. the report recommended that agency feeding programs be approved on a yearly rather than a quarterly basis. for planning and efficiency reasons.
Keywords matched
refugees