Farmers And The Underfed
The American Soybean Association has made a WISHH. Its creation of the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) program is an effort to help feed the hungry in developing countries while providing markets for U.S. soybean growers.
WISHH hopes to promote the use of soy products in food aid programs for developing countries around the world.
At the same time, the program hopes to create long-term markets for soybeans and soy products, including newly developed soy protein isolates and concentrates. According to USDA, 40% of current ag exports go to countries that are former food aid recipients. South Korea and the Philippines are prime examples of food aid countries that have grown into strong customers of U.S. soy.
"One vehicle for getting soy into diets in the developing world has always been food aid, but we think we can enhance and increase that," says Jim Hershey, WISHH director. "We want to work with private voluntary organizations, the U.S. government and the United Nations to incorporate soy into some of their feeding programs around the world."
The program offers several initiatives. They include incorporating more soy-fortified and soy-protein products into private volunteer organizations such as CARE and Save The Children, developing new soy products for emergency feeding and relief, introducing school food programs in developing countries and evaluating how soy nutrition can reduce HIV/AIDS symptoms.