From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Tue Jul 15 2008 - 20:12:59 EDT
The Food Aid Dilemma
July 14, 2008
Author:
Toni Johnson
The designated culprits are familiar: biofuel production, commodity
speculation, climate change, and agriculture subsidies.
Kenyans scramble for maize as the Kenyan Red Cross distribute food on
January 6. (AP/Karel Prinsloo)
The Food Aid Dilemma
In Haiti, they make dirt cookies (AP) to stave off hunger pangs. In
Ethiopia, adults now join the ranks of infants as severely malnourished
(Herald). Families in a growing number of developing countries have little
money for sending their children to school or for medical expenses
(Economist). Food riots have occurred in nearly thirty countries, in some
cases threatening political stability. Food rationing is also on the rise.
Terkula Cornelius Igidi writes in Nigeria's Daily Trust that "for the poor
man and his family, it is an untold story of hunger and starvation."
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reports that 50 million more
people faced hunger in 2007 as a result of higher prices. The UN World Food
Program estimates there are 860 million chronically hungry people in the
world, a tally that could increase by 130 million this year (VOA). The food
problem is compounded by recent floods in the U.S. Midwest, droughts in
Australia, and a cyclone in Asia's rice belt, as well as high fuel prices
and livestock diseases such as bird flu. CFR Senior Fellow Michael J.
Gerson notes in a recent Washington Post column that energy inflation has
spurred innovation and the move to efficiencies. But in the case of food
inflation, "there is no pleasant alternative to eating."
The designated culprits are familiar: biofuel production, commodity
speculation, climate change, and agriculture subsidies. The growing crisis
has sparked a panicked response in some countries, exacerbating food
shortages and pushing prices even higher. Twenty-nine countries have
imposed food export bans (NYT). The Dominican Republic has closed its
border (MNN) with Haiti. The G8 countries recently issued a statement
promising to normalize biofuel production with food security and condemning
export bans. Even without bans, global food trade is limited, says this CFR
Backgrounder, because the large majority of food produced globally does not
cross national boundaries.
With the plight of the hungry so acute, the calls for additional food aid
have grown. So far this year, the World Food Program spent $650
million—compared with the $400 million spent during the same period in 2007
to buy roughly the same amount of food (BusinessWeek). But some experts
point out that the aid system keeps people hungry in the long run even as
it feeds them in the short term. Alec van Gelder and Caroline Boin of the
International Policy Network, a development think tank based in London,
argue that aid has actually depressed development (Business Daily) in
Africa. They note "70 [percent] of Africans who live off the land have
falling incomes and life expectancy, while Asian countries that got little
or no aid have prospered."
Nearly 80 percent of all food aid from developed nations in 2007 was in the
form of surplus food produced by donors and often transported via donor
shippers. Compared with buying food locally, shipping food donations can be
slow and extremely costly. The United States is the largest contributor of
food aid in the world. The latest U.S. Farm Bill authorizes $1.2 billion in
food aid, of which just $60 million is in cash. CFR Senior Fellow Laurie
Garrett writes in a recent working paper that the aid system has invested
little in agriculture in developing nations, keeping the countries "locked
in dependency mode," forced to either buy food on international exchanges
or "pray for food aid." Activists have warned for years that this system
was promoted by agribusiness conglomerates looking to maximize corporate
profits. Economist Karen H. Johnson notes that distribution of surplus food
items for aid helps distort food markets. But she expects the practice to
diminish over time as surpluses decrease. Some leading developed states,
like Canada, have already switched to cash ai
http://www.cfr.org/publication/16761/food_aid_dilemma.html?breadcrumb=%2F
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