U.S. Aid Cuts Leave Millions Hungry as $98M in Food Rots in Storage

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In a stark example of the consequences of slashing global aid, over 60,000 metric tonnes of U.S. food assistance — enough to feed 3.5 million people for a month — is sitting idle in warehouses across Djibouti, Dubai, South Africa, and Houston. Sources close to the matter warn that large portions of this stockpile, valued at over $98 million, are approaching expiry and may soon be incinerated, turned into animal feed, or simply discarded.

🚨 Some of these critical food items could expire as early as July.

These supplies, which include fortified grains, vegetable oil, and high-energy biscuits, were purchased from American farmers and manufacturers and are part of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) emergency stockpile. But following the Trump administration’s decision in January to dramatically cut global aid and dismantle USAID, distribution has ground to a halt.

🌍 A Crisis of Politics — and Hunger

The timing couldn't be worse.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 343 million people are now experiencing acute food insecurity — and 1.9 million are on the brink of famine. This includes vulnerable populations in Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali.

The food now mouldering in warehouses could have significantly alleviated suffering in these regions. A Reuters analysis shows that just one tonne of food can feed 1,660 people per day. The 66,000 tonnes stuck in storage could have met the needs of over a million people for three months.

Instead, some of that food — like 500 tonnes of high-energy biscuits stored in Dubai — may never be used. These biscuits alone could nourish at least 27,000 malnourished children for a month.

🏗️ Bureau in Chaos, Children at Risk

Sources describe the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), which oversees these stockpiles, as being thrown into disarray. The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts have placed most of USAID's staff on administrative leave, with mass layoffs expected by July and September.

Without staff, there is no one left to coordinate the shipments.

🚚 Contracts with shippers, suppliers, and contractors have been canceled. The food can’t move. The plan to hand over stock to other aid groups has stalled — awaiting approval from the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, now led by 28-year-old Jeremy Lewin, a former Elon Musk operative with no humanitarian aid background.

Even the proposal to transfer control of the Dubai and Djibouti warehouses remains in limbo.

🧒🏾 Starving in Silence

The human cost is already being felt.

🧠 Jeanette Bailey, Nutrition Director at the International Rescue Committee, says programs are scaling back due to the funding gap:

📍 In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Action Against Hunger has already confirmed the deaths of six children after being forced to suspend aid admissions due to U.S. cuts.

🧺 Edesia Nutrition, a Rhode Island-based producer of Plumpy’Nut — a peanut paste used to treat malnutrition — is sitting on 5,000 tonnes of backlogged product. That’s enough to feed over 480,000 children, but with USAID transportation contracts terminated, it’s stuck in storage.

Even with private warehouse expansions, CEO Navyn Salem says the situation is unsustainable:

🏁 A Race Against Time

In normal times, USAID’s pre-positioned food stockpiles can be rapidly deployed to crises like Sudan, where 25 million people — half the country’s population — are hungry.

Now, every day that passes brings these commodities closer to their expiry. Every delay increases the chances they’ll be lost forever — not because we lacked food, but because we lacked the will to deliver it.

💬 “This isn’t just bureaucratic dysfunction,” said one former USAID staffer. “It’s a death sentence for children who were counting on that food.”

📉 From Global Leader to Silent Witness

The U.S. has long been the world’s largest humanitarian aid donor, responsible for at least 38% of all UN-recorded contributions. In 2024 alone, it disbursed $61 billion in foreign assistance — over half through USAID.

Now, as those programs unravel, the world’s most vulnerable are left hanging in uncertainty — and in many cases, without food.

📣 What You Can Do

• Support independent humanitarian organizations

• Contact lawmakers to demand immediate intervention

• Share stories like this to keep the pressure on

🍽️ Hunger is not a political issue. It’s a human one. The food is there. The need is real. The clock is ticking.