The following is the full transcript of an interview with David Beasley, head of the World Food Program. which aired on Sunday, April 17, 2022 on “Face the Nation.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: Now let’s go to David Beasley, the executive director of the UN World Food Program. He accompanies us from Lviv, Ukraine. Are you sure you can keep your food supply lines open?
WORLD FOOD PROGRAM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAVID BEASLEY: No, I’m not. I’m not at all sure. In fact, we are reaching millions of people, us and all partners in the international community here in Ukraine. But there are places we can’t get to, like Mariupol, other places where Russian forces have besieged the city and don’t allow us the access we need. If we get access, if we do not conflict with these access points, we will be able to reach all the people who are suffering, who are struggling to eat right now. This is not complicated. We only need access while we continue to address those – For example, there are already, as you know, half a million or more people who have fled the country – strangers. But at the same time, you have more, right now in Lviv, where 200,000 of these people are supported by the World Food Program, NGOs, churches, and local government. It’s a pretty remarkable scene to see in all this darkness and a little light with people with a lot of love and a lot of kindness.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re talking from a war zone. So the technical difficulties are there. But I want to continue, if we can. Given the lack of access to Mariupol, do you think Vladimir Putin is using hunger as a weapon?
BEASLEY: Well, from what I’ve seen, we’ve seen food depots that have been blown up, I’ve seen places where there’s nothing but food in these warehouses, and not even in Mariupol. And so there is no doubt that food is being used as a weapon of war in many different ways here. And I don’t know the reason or the reason for that. I know it’s heartbreaking, why would you deny people access to food? Innocent victims of the war. And that’s what the World Food Program is all about. We want to reach out to innocent people. We want to be impartial. We want to be neutral and we want to reach the people who need it. Give us the access we need.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We know that most of Ukraine’s farmland is in the east, where fighting is expected to pick up. We have seen pictures of Ukrainian farmers in bulletproof vests, still coming out of here, still tending their fields. Do you have any idea how the real supply of food from Ukraine will be affected?
BEASLEY: It will be an important factor now, MARGARET. There is no doubt about it. In fact, as you probably know, Ukraine cultivates enough food to feed 400 million people around the world. 400 million people. In fact, we buy 50% of all the grain we buy in Ukraine, which allows us to feed about 125 million people. And this is a very serious problem if we do not return the peasants to the field, not just a few, but all the peasants in the field. So they can plant, they can fertilize, they can harvest. And then, just as important is that we have to reopen the ports. If we do not reopen these ports, because the Black Sea is closed right now. This is the basis and the way 400 million people get food from Ukraine right now. So that has to open up. It must be demining. It has to be conflict-free, and it has to happen quickly.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the UN issued a really scary report last week saying that food prices have gone up 34% from a year ago, and that this increase is threatening social unrest in countries around the world. . Which areas are you most concerned about and in which areas will the crisis in Ukraine provoke violence?
BEASLEY: It will cause problems all over the world. And, for example, we now have 45 million people in 38 countries who are knocking on the door of hunger. And you may see a general increase in the price of food, say 38 to 40%, but in some very difficult places, it will be 100 or 200% as in Syria. And let me tell you, for example, in Yemen, we have already cut the rations to 8 million people, about 50%, in Chad, Niger and Mali. We already see an incredible number of people talking about migrating from Central America to the United States, from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras. Prices are going up, going up, going up. And let me tell you – it was a scary place. If we do not get the food we need to reach the people who need it, whether in the Middle East, North Africa or Central America, you will go hungry and destabilize the nations and then you will. they have massive migrations. And that will cost a thousand times more than if we get food and reach people before they die or create political unrest or emigrate.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I just want to emphasize something here. You said that it is already reducing food rations in certain countries due to the crisis in Ukraine. How do you decide? How do you decide who eats and who doesn’t?
BEASLEY: No, that’s a big deal, as you can imagine. But due to rising fuel costs, rising food costs, and shipping costs, we are already experiencing a $ 71 million increase in operating costs per month. So when we don’t have enough money, well, guess what? We have to choose which children eat, which children do not eat. We try to reach the most vulnerable children, but it is based on money. You know, what a breakup … What breaks your heart is that today there is a wealth of 430 trillion dollars all over the world. There is no reason why a single child should starve to death, let alone go to bed hungry. So we have the ability to reach those people. We just need the money to do it. But this situation in Ukraine is creating a price crisis, and if we do not resolve it quickly, you could have a worldwide availability problem.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s funding and availability. The United States is the largest donor. In the past, Russia has provided millions of dollars in funding. Do you expect him to cough a penny right now?
BEASLEY: Well, we just have to see. That is, they are a great food producer, no doubt about it. And just as Ukraine is the basket of the world, and now they are in the bread row. You never thought we would see it, but thank God the United States has grown significantly and intensified in a way never before. And I have met with Democratic and Republican senators, as well as members of the House and the White House. And, you know, in Washington it seems like they’re fighting over everything, days and hours. But when it comes to food security, I can proudly say that the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue come together and it’s a remarkable thing to see. And the United States, our friends in the Senate, in the House, have been increasing our operating budget. But right now we are facing a perfect storm. We will need a few billion more this year. But if we do not understand, you will have war, conflict, destabilization, which will cost a thousand times more. So we are looking at the United States, other countries like Germany, the EU, the UK, it could go on and on. What can Russia do, who knows? I would imagine that this year would be very hard. But it will be a difficult time anyway.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm Well, there was additional food aid that was removed from a recent COVID bill on Capitol Hill. For those who say the United States needs to be more fiscally responsible, they can’t continue to make more money from aid. What would you say to that? How do you persuade some of your fellow Republicans who are skeptical?
BEASLEY: It’s not difficult at all. It’s like having a leaking water line on the roof and not fixing it and you have to replace the floor. You will need to replace the table, chairs, curtains. It’s much cheaper to go out there, fix the waterline. And that’s what we’re talking about, because there’s no free lunch here. If you don’t reach people where they are, if you want to, it will cost you a thousand times more. And I’ll just give you an example. And this is typical. We feed 125 million people on a given day, week, or month. And I know from first hand experience people don’t want to leave home, they don’t want to emigrate. But if they have no food, and for example, in Syria. We can feed a Syrian in Syria for $ 0.50 a day, that same Syrian ends up in Berlin or Brussels, the United States, the humanitarian support package is $ 70 a day. Let me give you an example. On the U.S. border alone, we can support $ 1 to $ 2 a week individually for Guatemalan families to provide food security. But if you look back and look at the ad, The Washington Post made a story about border shelters, children’s shelters, $ 3,750 per child per week. And for $ 1, we can give food safety to this child at home. So you will pay for it one way or another. Why don’t we do it the right way, the right way? Because you pay a thousand times more if you don’t. This is not complicated.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The World Food Program published a report in 2015 saying that the increase in Syrian migrants in Europe was motivated by a cut in funding for World Food Program aid because people could not find food. in the camps, they went elsewhere. Are you predicting, and that’s what I think I’ve heard you say, that you see a refugee crisis as a consequence if there is no more food aid?
BEASLEY: No doubt. I mean, how many times have you hit yourself in the head the same way, you know, a hammer? And this is what Germany in the EU realized about its mistake. I have spoken to the German management and they realize the mistake they made in not going there in advance and dealing with it in advance. And, for example, in Germany alone, just over a five-year period with 1 million refugees, it cost them $ 125 billion. Do the math. We could have fed those millions for $ 0.50 per person, per person per day. And you do the math. $ 0.50 versus $ 70 a day. It’s not complicated. And guess what? The Syrian did not want to leave home. We survey people all the time. When you feed 125 million people like we do, we do a survey, we talk to them. I have met families. They don’t want to leave home. But if they don’t have food, I don’t know where the mother or father in the world is who wouldn’t do what they have to do to get their child to eat. And that includes leaving home.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, in December, your agency predicted that 23 million Afghans were in urgent need of food, including more than 3 million children after the Taliban came to power when they left the United States. . This is already hard. Is the crisis in Ukraine diverting resources from desperate places like Afghanistan?
BEASLEY: Margaret, what you’re talking about is a heartbreaker. The last thing we want to do is take food from a hungry child and give it to a hungry child. I don’t care where they are in the world. We thought it was bad enough, we had a perfect storm with conflicts, climate shocks and COVID. Then the Ethiopian crisis. Then over Yemen and Syria, then hit Afghanistan. Just when we thought it couldn’t get worse and we ran out of money, that’s why we’ve been cutting rations for children and families from people all over the world. Then you have Ukraine, the barn of the world. Therefore, we do not have enough money to reach the children of Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Ukraine. And now, as we are devastating the world’s barn, there is a possibility that children around the world, regardless of humanitarian aid, will not have the …
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