"Augustus's most important service to the urban masses was to assure them adequate and afordable food. By using his personal fortune to pay for imported grain to feed the hungry, he prevented food riots and demonstrated his respect for the Roman value of patrons supporting their clients. Government distribution of low-cost or free grain to at least some of Rome's poor had been a tradition for decades, but the number of male recipients in Augustus's welfare system totaled 250,000."

Thomas R. Martin, Ancient Rome: From Romulus to Justinian

China and India have a long history of state grain reserves to be released in times of shortage: the practice was also adopted in European countries at least by the 17th century. Of course accumulating when prices are low and selling when they're high isn't an entirely altruistic venture, but it doubtless saved lives when harvests were insufficient.

Britain's disastrous famine relief effort in Ireland in the 1840s is an instance of a conscious attempt to reduce loss of life: that it appears so grudging and half-hearted on the government's part and failed to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths shouldn't blind us to the fact that famine relief was attempted and was passionately pursued by many outside higher government circles.