Food Aid

What is hunger?
1. living on less than 2100 kcals/day (WFP)
  1. malnutrition
    1. e.g. Syria refugees queueing for food rations (war)
The hunger situation today
1. 815 million people are undernourished
  1. 7 million children die before reaching the age of 5
    1. almost half the worlds population survive on less than US$2/day
      1. 23% children under 5 have stunted growth (UNICEF, 2014)
        Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the region with the highest % of population of hunger
        1 in 4 are undernourished (WFP)
        US$3.2 billion is need per year to reach all 66 million hungry school age children
What causes hunger?
1. Poverty trap
  1. can't afford seed, tools, land, nutritious food for families
    1. no food = weaker and less able to earn $$ to escape poverty + hunger
      1. no water, education
2. Over exploitation of the environment
  1. poor family practice, deforestation, over cropping/ grazing
    1. erosion, salination, deforestation
      1. irrigation= increase surface water + land may be flooded= extra water evaporation and a higher deposit of salt
        high temperature= water evaporate= leave salt deposit
3. War
  1. displacement
    1. seizing livestock, destroying crops, wells (contaminate), market
4. Natural disaster
  1. floods, tropical storms and long period of drought
    1. drought is the most common cause of food shortage. e.g 2006 in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya
      1. worlds fertile land is under threat from erosion, salination
5. Unstable markets
  1. food prices= unstable= difficult for the poorest people to access nutritious food consistently
    1. Price spike= temporarily put food out of reach= consequence for small children
      1. increase price= buy cheaper + less nutritious food= micronutrients deficiencies + malnutrition
6. Food wastage
  1. 1/3 of all food (1.3 billion tonnes) is never consumed
    1. Missed opportunity to improve global food security- 1 in 8 hungry
      1. Producing food= water + natural resources + 3.3 billion tonnes of GHGs
What is Food Aid?
1. Where people are suffering from food shortage or famine the obvious immediate action appears to be food aid
  1. Food aid must cross at least one international boarder. Food assistance by a govern or private agency or local citizens, DOES NOT count as food aid.
    1. Food aid must be either free or provided to recipient at a cost lower than the commercial price of the food
      1. Donor= a primary provider of food aid from its own resources
        Recipient= a country that receives food aid
World Food Program (WFP)
1. part of the United Nations system and is voluntary funded
  1. world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide
    1. WFP works jointly with FAO, IFAD and NGO
Food Aid categories
1. Energency food aid (76%)
  1. Programme food aid (4%)
    1. Project food aid (20%)
Emergency Food Aid (EFA)
1. Consists of primarily in providing food to feed in the case of:
  1. acute food insecurity (famine)
    1. other natural disaster relief
      1. refugees and displaced person
        provide the more immediate food security needs
        peanut butter based ready-to-use therapeutic food (culturally acceptable)
Programme Food Aid (PGFA)
1. aimed for development with the intension to achieve recipient economic growth
  1. this is supplied in bulk to government stocks and reserves
    1. used by government just as it would use national production of the same commodity
      1. recipient cannot tell the difference between programme food aid and national commericial purchase or production
        benefit food reserves on local market
        in time of shortage cereals can used to create national reserve stock to limit sudden demand and high price
Project Food Aid (PFA)
1. to alleviate medium and long term hunger
  1. 50% of those living with hunger are farmers
    1. 20% are rural labourers mainly in agricultures
      1. 10% live as gathers in forest, fish, and raise livestock
        only 20% of those living with hunger live in urban areas
        delivered as part of a specific project related to promoting agricultural or economic development, nutrition and food security. E.g. school feeding programs
        Criteria for project food aid from WFP
        NOT every country is eligible for food aid
        determinant factors for food aid eligibility
        A per capita caloric consumption of less than 2300 kcal
        inability to meet food security requirement through domestic production or import due to shortage of foreign exchange earnings
        Child mortality rate of children under 5 years old in excess of 100/1000 births
        targeted certain groups. e.g. workers in certain industries, school
        project food aid is provided in the following ways:
        targeted aid projects
        project for the development of economic and physical infrastructure
        project of a directly productive nature
        land development and improvement from soil conservation to large irrigation schemes
        foresting projects (reforestation)
        fishery development
        land settlement
        given food in exchange for work
        can learn new skills that boost economy or improve food security
        irrigation
        rations to farmers who improve soil quality planting tress
        building new schools
        it targests individuals most vulnerable to food insecurity (mother/children)
        provides food aid directly for mothers at clinic and hospitals
        academic improvements
        nutritional status of children
        literacy
Problems of food aid
1. dumping food on to poorer nations (i.e free, subsidized, or cheap food below market price)= undercut local farmers, who cannot compete and are driven out of jobs & into poverty
  1. discouraging local production of food
    1. causing dependency on food aid
      1. lowering price of the commodity supplied
        changing food habits away from local
cash transfer instead of food
1. cash transfer + vouchers more common
  1. spent locally= benefit local economy give individual choice
    1. cheaper to distribute
      1. BUT can the local traders meet the increased demand without raising price

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	Created by Tc Chau almost 8 years ago