Moving a little north for this African posting, it was pleasing to see this article in the New York Times last week. One of the most dangerous ideas in international development is the notion that food aid is designed to help the poor. In fact (and I go into this at some length in the book), it was invented to find a home for a domestic crop surplus, as part of the war on communism. Under this rubric, it didn't much matter that food aid, dumped into a country where the poorest people are farmers, and struggling to survive an already parlous situation, had the effect of wiping out any possibility of earning money for the 'beneficiaries'. Instead, they were reduced to penury, hooked on the largesse of food aid. Mission accomplished. ... read more »

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Posted on 22 August, 2007 - 15:50

Here's an article from the New York Times, about who really benefits from Food Aid...

Original Article Here. Thanks to Dan Moshenberg for sending it along.

April 7, 2007
Even as Africa Hungers, Policy Slows Delivery of U.S. Food Aid
By CELIA W. DUGGER

MULONDO, Zambia — Traveling to school in wobbly dugout canoes, Munalula Muhau and her three cousins, 7- and 8-year-olds whose parents had died from AIDS, held onto just one possession: battered tin bowls to receive their daily ration of gruel.

Within weeks, those rations, provided by the United Nations World Food Program, are at risk of running out for them and 500,000 other paupers, including thousands of people wasted by AIDS who are being treated with American-financed drugs that make them hungrier as they grow healthy. ... read more »

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Posted on 8 April, 2007 - 01:52