WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - The Bush administration is more than $400 million short in its plan to send emergency food aid to developing countries, leaving 9 million people at risk of going hungry, a coalition of aid groups said on Friday. The administration has already requested $350 million in supplemental funding for fiscal 2007 to help crises in Afghanistan, the Darfur region of Sudan, and other parts of Africa. But the Alliance for Food Aid, a Washington-based group that includes World Vision and other aid organizations, argues that will not be enough, even if the supplemental request passes. "There would be a $434,866,000 shortfall in southern Africa, the Horn of Africa and Uganda, with 9,225,639 beneficiaries unserved. An additional $100,000,000 would meet about one-fourth of this shortfall, serving an additional 2,300,000 people," the group's director, Ellen Levinson, said in an email. That money would go through the government's "Food for Peace" program, which is funded through the Agriculture Department and run by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Bush administration, in its annual budget request, has already proposed spending $1.2 billion for emergency food aid in fiscal year 2008. That would allow the donation of about 3.5 million tonnes of grain equivalent. But the Alliance believes more help is needed in the short run for the Horn of Africa, southern Africa, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, and North Korea. "While an additional $100,000,000 will not cover all the requirements, it will make the level more realistic," the group said.
