Trump's USAID cuts leads to wastage of food for 3.5 million per month
When a major policy ends, it can ripple far beyond national borders, triggering global consequences.
The sudden halt of USAID funding didn't just affect budgets; it disrupted lifesaving food chains, shuttered clinics, and silenced community programs that millions depended on for survival.
Approximately 60,000 metric tons of US-funded food aid, valued at $98 million and sufficient to feed 3.5 million people for a month, remain unused in warehouses across Houston, Djibouti, Durban, and Dubai.
These supplies, including high-energy biscuits and fortified grains, were intended for crisis-hit regions such as Gaza, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
However, abrupt funding cuts and administrative upheavals under the Trump administration have stalled their distribution, leaving the food at risk of expiration and potential disposal.
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The disruption stems from the dismantling of the
US Agency
for International Development (USAID), with over 90% of its foreign aid contracts terminated and $60 billion in assistance slashed globally
Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old appointee from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, now oversees the Office of Foreign Assistance, where internal proposals to release the stranded food await approval.
The human cost of these cuts is profound. In northeastern Nigeria, Bulama, a mother who previously lost triplets to hunger, enrolled her underweight twins in a Mercy Corps program providing Plumpy'Nut—a therapeutic peanut paste. After USAID funding ceased in February, the program ended, and one of her twins died two weeks later.
Navyn Salem, founder of Edesia Nutrition, which produces Plumpy'Nut, reports $13 million worth of the product sitting idle in her Rhode Island warehouse. She remains hopeful for a resolution to deliver the aid to those in need.
Organizations like Action Against Hunger have been forced to halt over 50 projects in 20 countries, with reports of child deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo due to suspended operations.
While some aid programs have been reinstated following internal and congressional pressure, many remain in limbo. The World Food Programme warns that the elimination of emergency food assistance in 14 countries could be a "death sentence" for millions facing extreme hunger.
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