R.I.’s Edesia Nutrition tries to ‘find a way’ as Trump dismantles USAID

Founded in 2010, the North Kingstown nonprofit manufacturers a fortified peanut-based paste, Plumpy’Nut, which treats severe cases of malnutrition when children are weeks away from dying. To date, the company has fed 26 million starving children in 65 countries, including Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Venezuela, and Guatemala.

Last year, Edesia received 85 percent of its business from USAID, and now that humanitarian agency is a major target in a campaign by President Trump and Elon Musk to slash the size of the federal government. In March, Musk and Pod Save America host Jon Favreau had an online battle over USAID funding for Edesia and a Georgia factory.

Salem said “the roller coaster has been nonstop” since Jan. 29, when Edesia received a stop-work order from the government. “This was then rescinded a week later,” she said. “Shortly after that, our contracts were terminated. Twenty-four hours after that, they were turned back on.”

With the USAID payment system in shambles, Edesia just received a $16 million payment last week for orders placed last year, but it’s still awaiting payment for another $20 million in orders, she said. Meanwhile, the supply chain has been disrupted, leaving product sitting in warehouses and on ships, rather than getting to the children that need it, she said.

“Every hour that this factory is down means 415 children will not get the lifesaving food that they need,” Salem said.

Salem said USAID’s workforce of 14,000 has been slashed to 700 employees, and the remainder are going to be terminated by Sept. 1. She said the agency will be absorbed into the State Department on July 1, but that represents a big loss of institutional knowledge.

“So we are quite aware that there will be no future contracts for the remainder of the year, as far as we can tell,” she said.

Salem said she was forced to lay off 16 staff members, representing about 10 percent of Edesia’s workforce.

“This was a very difficult decision to have to make,” she said. “But with the amount of uncertainty going on still, on a day-to-day basis, it’s almost impossible to be able to run a business in a climate like this.”

Salem said Edesia fully understands the need for efficiency, but she also emphasized the value of humanitarian aid and the “soft power” it provides.

“Emergency food assistance is something that both Democrats and Republicans believe should continue, and the reason that food security is so important is because it translates directly to national security,” she said.

Countries with large numbers of hungry people can face “very violent, unstable situations,” Salem said. “This is when people start to overthrow their governments.” And starvation can lead to mass migration, she said.

But boxes of the peanut paste produced in Rhode Island and Georgia are stamped with an American flag and the words “From the American people,” she noted.

“Do you think that you’ll ever forget that it was the American people that saved the life of your most precious child?” Salem said. “I cannot think of a better investment.”

If people are frustrated with what’s happening, Salem said Edesia needs donations now more than ever. “We have to step up,” she said. “While we are in this disruption, I have no doubt that we can continue the work with as few interruptions as possible, if we get the support from everyone around us.”

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Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.