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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 16:48:37 EDT
In a real and important sense, USAID's entire portfolio contributes to food security. USAID's strategic priorities--economic growth, health and population, the environment, democracy, and humanitarian assistance--each supports improved food security. Helping countries to achieve sustainable development is the surest way to eliminate the chronic poverty which is the root cause of food insecurity. USAID will continue this integrated approach, drawing on development assistance resources to target critical problems in needy countries. III. Measures to Improve Food Security
In the case of very poor developing countries, improved agricultural productivity has played a critical role in establishing basic food security. In the major development success stories in Asia--first Korea and Taiwan, then Thailand India and Indonesia, and now even Bangladesh--efforts to promote productivity growth resulted in basic food security for large numbers of people and provided the initial stimulus for economic growth and development. Through productivity increases, food production expanded rapidly and food prices fell relative to nominal wages. The poor were able to procure more food for their families, helping to improve household nutrition, and at the same time to devote some of their resources to other basic needs, including education. Demand for family planning services increased as the importance of child labor in agriculture declined. Incomes grew in rural areas, stimulating investment in off-farm activities and eventually leading to sustained growth.
USAID investments in agriculture played a leading role in this effort. The International Agricultural Research Centers provided key technological breakthroughs which led directly to this "green revolution." USAID bilateral assistance programs provided policy counsel, coordination with other donors and international institutions such as the World Bank, and direct investments in agriculture. Food aid was used to improve access to food and provide balance of payments support. In some cases, direct feeding was used to improve household nutrition.
Achieving food security has always been a complex development challenge. Individual country circumstances vary widely and selecting appropriate measures requires experience and the ability to respond to local needs. Sustaining improvements in food security requires the ability to understand issues at the global, national, community and household level. Most important, achieving food security requires the initiative and hard work of the people themselves and the institutional and free-market environment which will permit their efforts to be successful.
A. Importance of the Global Agricultural Economy
The impact on the developing countries of expanding world food production and growing agricultural trade can be significant. The price of basic grains is determined in the global market, and can be critically important for poor, food deficit countries. A growing market also offers opportunities for many developing countries to expand agricultural production, incomes and exports.The new GATT agreement includes important new measures to reduce subsidies and open markets. As a result, prices are expected to be somewhat higher than they otherwise would be, which will benefit producing countries. Increasing international prices will also provide production incentives for developing countries. Expanded market access, which will result from the GATT, will encourage expansion and diversification of production as well.
The impact of the global food economy on any individual developing country depends on the country's specific circumstances and its ability to adjust to change. The degree to which a country benefits in this volatile economy depends, among other factors, on its promotion of a sound and supportive domestic policy environment. As an example, in 1993/94 food production per capita declined in 45 of 70 low income food deficit countries when compared to average production the previous five years. However, per capita food use declined in only 20 of these countries. The other 25 were able to adjust and use commercial food imports and food aid to support consumption increases.
Those countries which make the necessary adjustments will benefit in the new global agricultural economy. For those that do not, higher prices for imported basic food commodities will drain development budgets and, perhaps, increase dependency on food aid. The GATT negotiators recognized that the poor, food-deficit countries have traditionally had difficulty adjusting and that food aid in the near term could be especially important. However, food aid simply cannot fill the supply gap over the longer term, and it is essential that the poor, food deficit countries develop the expertise and the political will to adjust to more open international markets. In countries where this is an important issue, USAID field missions can play an essential supportive role with technical assistance and multilateral contacts.
The U.S. Government has in past played a leadership role in negotiating and monitoring the international agreements which regulate the global agricultural economy. However, the lead agencies--State and USDA--have properly concentrated on the interests of U.S. agriculture and its developed economy competitors. USAID has had little role, and the potential impact of trade on poor, food deficit countries has not been monitored closely. USAID needs to do more in future.
As important, sustained improvement of global agricultural productivity depends heavily on research investments. Past successes have focused on the crops and farming systems of the developed countries and Asia--rice, wheat and corn. To some extent national systems in the countries which are making progress on food security can be relied upon for continued research products suitable to their domestic crops. However, the poorest countries will continue to rely on the International Agricultural Research Centers. USAID continues to view these institutions as important contributors to food security in poor countries and deserving of significant support.
B. USAID Agriculture Programs in Poor Countries
Growth of agricultural productivity and improved household nutrition have been the keys to establishing food security in poor countries. Historically, USAID missions in very poor countries where food security is a major problem have given high priority in their strategic planning to agriculture.Efforts to expand production of staple food crops have been pursued through improvements in agricultural policies, bringing more land under cultivation, and by increasing yields on existing lands through more intensive use of inputs and through introduction of improved crop varieties.
Now, bringing more land under cultivation is rarely an environmentally acceptable alternative in most regions. In Asia, where total food demand is greatest, the potential for new arable lands or even new irrigated land is already limited. Use of new lands would cause irreversible ecological damage as forests and hillsides are cleared for agriculture.
At the same time, some believe the potential for significant increases in yields on available lands is declining. On a global scale, grain production per person has shown signs of stagnation if not a slight decline since 1985.5 In part, this results from removing lands from production in the U.S. and in Europe in response to policies designed to control excess production. However, it also appears growth in productivity of the best agricultural lands in Asia has flattened out in recent years. Some have attributed this "plateauing" in yields to lack of sufficient investment in improved technologies. Food production per capita is actually declining in several African countries.
Nevertheless, as most countries in Latin America and Asia have made significant progress toward food security, overall USAID investments in agriculture have declined significantly. Some have suggested this very progress in many developing countries has resulted in a false sense of security about the world's capacity to feed itself. As a result, competition has arisen from other priority areas for scarce development assistance resources. Remaining funding for agriculture, which is now concentrated within USAID's Economic Growth priority area, has been squeezed even for the poor, food deficit countries. In Africa, funding for agriculture declined from a high of $200 million per year in 1988 to $125 million in 1993.
C. USAID Household Nutrition Programs in Poor Countries
Within households, food consumption by family members is dictated by a variety of cultural priorities. It is essential that adequate income or household production provide sufficient calories and nutritional balance for all. Equally important, families must have access to clean water and to fuel for preparing food, must understand the basic requirements of family nutrition, and must have access to basic health care services. Access to family planning services and adequate post-natal care, including breast feeding, are also essential.Within households, all of these food security responsibilities fall most heavily on women. Their decisions translate the basic conditions necessary for food security--availability, access and utilization--into the reality of food secure families. Yet, these same women suffer heavily from the effects of malnutrition. In 1990, an estimated 370 million women between 15 and 49 years of age were anemic, a condition that contributes to high maternal mortality rates, especially during childbirth. Hence, programs to support and enhance the role of women in developing countries can often make an important contribution to food security.
USAID also supports research on nutrition at the household level and is particularly interested in the potential contribution of vitamin A and other micronutrients. There is increasing evidence that availability of these critical elements in the diets of children can help reduce morbidity and mortality. As important, there is also recent evidence that mild to moderate malnutrition, which is closely associated with the overall supply of calories, significantly increases the risks of child mortality. In combination, these findings demonstrate that adequate supply of food, a balanced diet, and knowledge of proper food preparation and nutrition are all essential to sustained food security.
As with agriculture, the competition for foreign assistance resources has meant that only modest funding can be made available for international nutrition programs.
D. Integrated Programs
Achieving food security in the poorest developing countries is proving an especially complex development challenge. The physical environment in much of Africa is fragile and subject to periodic drought. Many areas of Africa and all of South Asia are already densely populated, and growth rates continue to be very high. Basic food crops of the poor--sorghum, millet, and cassava--have not received sufficient attention in global agricultural research. The political and cultural traditions of many of the poorest countries, particularly in Africa, remain distorted by the legacy of colonialism and by poverty. Ethnic conflict and other civil strife regularly disrupt economic progress and sends waves of refugees across national borders.In this complex environment, marginal efforts are unlikely to succeed. USAID, working with other donors and the recipient countries, must be prepared to mount a comprehensive, sustained effort. Where USAID field missions decide food security is a major problem--and the Agency concludes it can and should pursue improvements in food security as a program objective--the USAID mission must be prepared to allocate the full range of Agency resources to the effort. Donor coordination must also be given high priority.
Since funding for agriculture and nutrition programs--and for broad-based economic growth in general--will continue to be sharply constrained, it is also essential that U.S. food aid be used as efficiently and effectively as possible. This will require a good understanding of the development context for individual countries and regions and a sound analytical framework to guide policies which support sustained progress.
USAID evaluations of food aid programs have shown that food assistance is most effective where it is programmed in conjunction with dollar funding for technical assistance and with local currency for logistical support and grass-roots development activities. In fact, sustained progress toward food security will depend heavily on progress on the full range of factors contributing to sustainable development. This means food aid will be most effective where it is integrated with other USAID resources.
5 Conway Panel, Ibid.
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Last Updated on: July 11, 2001 |
