Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the Obama administration is increasing funding for Tanzanian nutritional programs as part of its Feed the Future initiative and pledged the administration's commitment to Tanzania's agricultural sector.

Clinton visited the Mlandizi Farm Women's Cooperative in Dar es Salaam June 12, 2011. The cooperative is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and is training women to grow and sell food.

Through Feed the Future, the United States is working with Tanzania's agriculture and food security investment plan to "address the root causes of poverty, hunger, and under-nutrition," she said.

The Obama administration is asking the U.S. Congress to approve a nearly $70 million investment to support Tanzania's plan, and is increasing its nutritional funding to $6.7 million.

According to a March 3 State Department fact sheet, President Obama launched Feed the Future in response to the 20077â?2008 spike in global food prices with a $3.5 billion pledge to help poorer countries fight hunger through agricultural development.

"The U.S. Government's Feed the Future Initiative utilizes innovation, research, and development to improve agricultural productivity, link farmers to local and regional markets, enhance nutrition, and build safety nets. These investments will increase the supply of food where it is needed and help vulnerable people withstand price shocks better," the fact sheet said.

Clinton said three out of every four Tanzanians work in agriculture and account for 25 percent of the country's economy. But they face difficult obstacles.

"They don't have good roads in rural areas, so it is difficult to get their products to market. Low crop productivity can also be a challenge. And while the country is largely self-sufficient in maize, the main staple crop, many farmers don't have the tools they need to use their land as efficiently as their counterparts in other countries around the world," she said.

In addition, regional and seasonal crop imbalances have meant that four out of 10 young children do not get enough calories or the nutrients they need to grow up healthy, she said.

"I believe for every challenge in Tanzania, there is a solution in Tanzania," she said, and the United States wants to help.

"We have decided to concentrate our resources here in line with the country-led vision laid out by the government of Tanzania. We are working with the private sector, the World Bank, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and others. And we want to focus on results for people," she said.

See related transcript: Secretary of State Clinton Attends Nutrition Forum in Tanzania.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/iipdigital-en/index.html)