A Georgia nonprofit that produces emergency aid for starving children globally is one of the latest victims of the Trump administration’s spending cuts after it says contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development were abruptly canceled, reportedly because its work is “not in the national interest.”
Food producer Mana, which manufactures nutrient-dense peanut butter that’s specially formulated to treat severe acute malnutrition, said 35% of its orders, or $12 million, were slashed after years of work with USAID.
This means 300,000 children will lose access to its ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTF, which consists of milk, multivitamins and peanut butter, a representative with the company, based in Fitzgerald, told HuffPost Friday.
The countries specifically expected to be impacted are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was receiving $4.5 million worth of food aid, South Sudan, which was receiving $3.3 million, Madagascar, which was receiving $1.3 million, and Nigeria, which was receiving $1 million.
“They have yet to cancel $23 million but we do not know why those were not cancelled,” the representative said in an email of remaining USAID contracts it has.
The cuts came as the Trump administration announced that it is terminating 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts in order to reduce federal spending.
The company, which grows its peanuts locally, first received a stop-work order from USAID around the start of the month. About a week after, it received another email from its contracting officer saying it could continue its work, Mark Moore, Mana’s co-founder and CEO, told Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month had agreed to exempt humanitarian programs that provide life-saving services, like food, from being impacted by the federal funding freeze, at least initially, according to a signed waiver obtained by The Associated Press.
But in this new USAID contract termination letter sent to Mana this week, and obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USAID argued that its supply contracts with Mana are “not aligned with Agency priorities” and that “continuing this program is not in the national interest.”
A representative with the State Department did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on the contract cancellations Friday.
Mana has partnered with USAID to deliver food to over 45 countries, ultimately feeding more than 8 million children since 2010, according to the company’s website.
Early last year, Mana was a recipient of a $200 million investment by USAID to help combat the food crises in Gaza and other parts of the world. During a factory visit by then-USAID Administrator Samantha Power, Mana was credited as being one of just two factories in the U.S. that produce the vital nutritional paste.
Moore told the AJC that they don’t have immediate plans to halve production or lay off any of the company’s workers, suggesting that maybe United Nations Children’s Fund or another humanitarian organization will want their products. RUTF has a shelf life of two years.
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“There’s many, many groups that use our product,” he told the outlet.