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This USAID Program Made Food Aid More Efficient for Decades. DOGE Gutted It Anyways


The Famine Early Warning Systems Network is one of USAID’s most data-driven programs, but its work has been stalled by the Trump Administration.

Musk insisted that USAID was too wasteful and corrupt to exist, but by effectively dismantling the agency, DOGE ended projects like the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net), a long-running, broadly successful data analysis initiative that provides guidance to ensure that food aid is delivered in the least-wasteful way possible. The group built various custom software tools and collected data from remote sensors, satellites, and other systems that can monitor vegetation, livestock productivity, crop health, rainfall, land surface temperature, evapotranspiration, and other environmental factors. Border security is one of the top priorities of the Trump Administration, but the tertiary effects of abandoning a program that mitigates migration-spurring disasters may work against its efforts to prevent migrants from coming to the United States.

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