Vilsack: Ebola shouldn’t disrupt U.S. food aid going to Africa

DES MOINES - Ebola outbreaks in Africa should have little effect on the United States providing nutritional aid to those countries, and the impact on international trade should be negligible, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said this week.

Speaking at the World Food Prize event Thursday in downtown Des Moines, Vilsack said outbreaks of the deadly disease should not prevent the United States from continuing to provide food aid to Africa.

'There will be, I'm sure, circumstances and situations where it may be more difficult, more complex because of how we have to work through the process. But we're committed to trying to get the food assistance to where it's needed, when it's needed,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack said he does not anticipate any disruption in the trade of U.S. exports, although he said countries affected by Ebola may have fewer exports in the short term.

'Liberia and other countries are obviously devastated by this, and to the extent that it is impacting and affecting their farming community, it may impact and affect how much they're able to produce and what they are able to do with it,” Vilsack said. 'But I don't anticipate at this point in time, based on what I know today, that you're going to see a significant impact on global trade.”

Vilsack returned to Iowa, where he served as governor from 1999 to 2007, for the World Food Prize.

Later Thursday, the World Food Prize honored 2014 Laureate Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, a plant scientist from Mexico. Rajaram led a wheat-breeding program that developed nearly 500 wheat varieties helping farmers and consumers worldwide, according to the World Food Prize.