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Food Aid and Food Security
February 1995
>> This Is USAID >> USAID Policy Papers >> Food Aid and Food Security
Preface Measures to Improve Food Security
Food Aid Management Objectives
Program and Management Policy Conclusions
Wednesday, 11-Jul-2001 16:48:36 EDT
Since enactment of P.L. 480 in 1954, the global agricultural economy has changed radically. U.S. food aid and related foreign assistance programs have contributed to rapid expansion of global food security. Even in developing countries, hunger no longer dominates daily life. Executive Summary
However, the past forty years have produced uneven progress. The challenge of world hunger in the 1990s, particularly in Africa, is real.
- 800 million people in the world are chronically undernourished.
- More than 180 million children are severely underweight.
- 13 million people die every year from hunger and related causes, mostly children under 5.
- An estimated 35 million people "at risk" needed 4.5 million tons of emergency food assistance in 1994.
In the long run, USAID believes sustainable development offers the best hope for significant reduction in hunger, and food aid has an important and special role to play in this effort.
But the conditions which govern U.S food assistance have changed since 1954. The U.S. no longer generates large agricultural surpluses--food aid is now a scarce resource. Moreover, U.S. government funding for food aid is subject to the same budget constraints as other forms of assistance--every dollar allocated for food aid is equivalent to a dollar of development assistance.
In this new environment, USAID must ensure that food aid is used as effectively and efficiently as possible.
This policy paper is the logical next step toward making food aid a more effective and efficient resource for promoting food security in needy countries. It draws on "lessons learned" in successful efforts in Asia and Latin America to help poor people move from hunger and malnutrition to sustainable development. The paper is designed to provide broad guidance to USAID field managers and to the Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) that implement much of the U.S. food aid program. It is the responsibility of these field managers, including the PVOs, to decide how best to achieve food security.
This policy paper provides guidance on the program interventions USAID believes are most likely to achieve sustained improvements in food security. It is not prescriptive. However, the evidence in support of these reforms is increasingly compelling.
USAID's goal is to increase the impact of food aid in reducing hunger.
For Title III programs, this means USAID will give greater priority in allocating food aid to those countries that need food most and within those countries will concentrate on programs with direct linkages to increased agricultural production and consumption.
Similarly, Title II development programs will focus on improving household nutrition, especially in children and mothers, and on alleviating the causes of hunger, especially by increasing agricultural productivity. Other programs which can clearly be shown to improve food security, for example, by increasing incomes in rural and urban areas through economic and community development and by promoting sound environmental practices, will also be considered.
For Title II development programs, priority will be given to programs in those countries that need food most and where food insecurity is greatest. However, programs will also be eligible for funding in developing countries where progress is being made but where there remain large numbers of poor and hungry people.
Procedures for implementation of Title II programs will continue to be developed in consultation with cooperating sponsors pursuant to the requirements of Section 205 of P.L. 480, which creates the USAID/PVO Food Aid Consultative Group.
For both Title II and Title III, these priorities will help ensure scarce resources are allocated where they have the greatest impact. Except for emergencies, food aid programs in countries where overall U.S. foreign assistance has been terminated will be approved on an exception basis only.
Performance monitoring and assessment systems will be introduced to permit USAID and the PVOs to demonstrate more clearly the food security impact of U.S. food aid programs. Responsibility for this new "managing-for-results" system will fall primarily on the PVOs and USAID's field missions. In turn, these field managers will be given flexibility to propose activities which they believe will have the greatest impact on improved food security.
Experience has shown that food aid is most effective when used in conjunction with complementary programs. For example, the recipient country itself must ensure that policies are in place which support economic growth and sustained development. This suggests food aid has its greatest potential for sustained impact on food security when it is programmed as an integral part of a broader effort including USAID, PVO, other donor and recipient country resources.
Most important, USAID expects its food security programs to result in local capacity for continued progress, even after U.S. assistance programs end. Building this local capacity should be an important objective of all USAID activities, since it is essential both to improved food security and to sustainable development.
In summary, this paper provides an overview of food security in the world today and identifies measures available to reduce hunger and malnutrition. These new Agency policies are fully consistent with existing legislation.
The principal policy consequences and management implications are:
- For Title III Programs
- Greater priority in allocating food aid will be given to countries most in need of food. Under current world conditions, those countries are primarily in Africa.
- Highest priority will be given to programs with direct linkages to increased agricultural production and consumption.
- For Title II Programs
- Priority will be given to programs in those countries that need food most and where food insecurity is greatest. Title II programs will focus on improving household nutrition, especially in children and mothers, and on alleviating the causes of hunger, especially by increasing agricultural productivity.
- For all Programs
- USAID will allocate resources and manage programs to increase the impact U.S. food aid has in reducing hunger.
- Food aid will be integrated to a greater extent with other assistance resources (particularly USAID resources). Proceeds from the monetization of food can be used to complement direct feeding programs and to support development programs, particularly those which enhance agricultural productivity and/or improve household nutrition.
- Greater attention and resources will be allocated to strengthening the program development and management capacity of USAID's food aid partners: the Private Voluntary Organizations, local non-governmental organizations and the World Food Program. USAID field missions will strengthen collaboration and dialogue with these partners in working to achieve mutually agreed objectives.
- USAID will seek to identify greater budgetary flexibility to respond to emergencies. Since overall food aid appropriations are likely to be reduced, this flexibility will need to come from such measures as expanding the types of commodities in existing reserve systems and improved multilateral coordination.
- Greater priority will be given to the relief to development continuum. Food insecure countries must be prepared to cope with recurring drought and with political conflict. Equally important, relief programs must ensure families are able to return as quickly as possible to productive lives.
In adopting these policy and management reforms, USAID is recommitting itself to the effective and efficient use of food aid as a resource for sustainable development. Field managers and PVOs will be expected to fully consider this guidance and justify program proposals in terms of food security results. In turn, they will be held accountable for achieving such results once programs have been approved.
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Last Updated on: July 11, 2001 |
