The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is set to make another $300 million available to help grow export markets for American farm and food products.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Xochitl Torres Small said that the funding is being made available through the Regional Agricultural Promotion Programme (RAPP).
The $1.2 billion programme was established by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last October in order to assist US exports to expand their customer base outside the established markets such as China, Mexico and Canada.
These countries collectively account for nearly half of all current US export sales.
The programme will focus on regions including Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South and Southeast Asia, where USDA said that consumer demand and purchasing power are growing.
USDA
Deputy Secretary Torres Small said that access to international markets “supports US farmers at home and food security throughout the world”.
“USDA launched RAPP last year as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to create more, new and better markets for US producers and agribusinesses, and we’ve seen tremendous interest, culminating in more than a billion dollars in proposals for the first $300 million round of RAPP funding earlier this year.
“Given the importance of exports in supporting farm income and rural economic development, we’re delighted to be able to make an additional $300 million available this year,” she said.
Organisations will have until October 4 to apply for this round of funding, with allocations expected to be announced before the end of the year.
Similar to the first round of RAPP funding, USDA is again setting aside $25 million specifically for activities in Africa.
In May, USDA allocated the first $300 million in RAPP funding to 66 US organisations to for hundreds of market development projects covering a wide range of products and markets.
The US Dairy Export Council plans to expand its presence in Africa by using RAPP funding to better understand and develop dairy import regulations and regulatory frameworks in many markets.
While the US Meat Export Federation will use the initial funding under the programme to expand its efforts to secure new markets in southeast Asia, Africa, South Korea, Central America and Colombia.