An article from today's New York Times - "Feeding More for Less in Niger" by Sophia Murphy - speaks about the problems... and refers to a very informative study "U.S. Food Aid - Time to Get It Right" published recently by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
Here are a few paragraphs from IATP's press release from July 27, 2005:
The report... points out that the main beneficiaries of the U.S. food aid system are agribusiness companies bidding on food aid contracts, U.S. shipping companies that transport the food internationally, and private voluntary organizations (PVOs) that rely on sales of food aid in developing countries to generate funds for their other aid work (a practice called monetization).
The report found that this unusual political alliance blocks urgently needed reforms of U.S. food aid. The U.S. practice of sending food for sale or distribution in countries facing hunger is inefficient, expensive and slow. The U.S. should move towards food aid programs based on cash for purchasing food in or near the country where food aid is required. Almost all other major food aid donors have moved away from the donation of commodities.
The report concludes, “in the name of the poor overseas, very large sums of money are now paid to prop up U.S. shipping firms and to buy food at higher than market prices from U.S. based food processors and other agribusinesses.” The report found that most food aid is self-interested and politicized, rather than focused on the needs of the hungry.
