Last night, as my roommates and I made dinner, we discussed the controversial successes and long-term consequences of food aid.  Our planet is rich in resources, and yet, about 1/6 of the world’s population - approximately 1 billion people – are hungry.  Thanks to worldwide food programs, thousands of individuals receive nutrition they might not otherwise have access to. But the silver lining to that success story is the way food aid infrastructure is set up.  According to the Cato Institute, the US requires that food aid be purchased from US farmers, processed and bagged in the US and shipped on US vessels -- which cost 50% of the money allocated.  What is wrong with this picture?  Instead of utilizing local land, resources, and labor to locally produce food, teach people how to work the land, and create local economies, the recipient country is required to import what it could produce on its own turf.   Instead of teaching them to fish, we fish for them.   While this might help boost US agricultural exports, it weakens – and in some cases, substitutes – food production abroad, completely replacing local economies and further promoting the cycle of dependency on foreign food aid and assistance. 

One example of the long-term implication of this process is Haiti. In 1986, the IMF loaned Haiti $24.6MM in critical financial assistance, and as part of the agreement, Haiti was required to reduce tariff protections for various agricultural products in order to open up to outside competition.  This outside competition obviously included (and policy primarily driven by) the United States, where farmers heavily subsidized by the government were (and still are) able to sell product well below market price.  The local Haitian farmers had no way to compete with the influx of cheap agricultural products, which included food aid, and within a few years, local production came to a halt.  As Bill Quigley reported for Partners in Health in 2008, US rice production will receive approximately $700MM in annual subsidies through 2015.   Haitian farmers stand no chance.  Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, but its not without outside influence and if we can analyze various sectors and historical moments, we’ll have a better understanding of why.  So how do we move forward?

The US Agency for International Development, which hosts one of the premier food aid programs in the world, is taking a first step in redesigning its food aid process by incorporating grant programs for local food production.  This means giving money to local, established organizations and governments to work the land, employ local labor, and create a local distribution process to feed its people.   USAID needs to expand on this initiative and other entities should follow suit and create community - based solutions that will enable and empower individuals, instead of encouraging their dependence on foreign assistance.  As we watch Haiti put itself back together, or rather, watch everyone else put it back together, foreign aid and assistance programs should empower the local community by involving them in the process – starting now.  Whether its with food aid distribution or healthcare access, local Haitians need to be part of the process.  After all, they are going to be the ones still standing 5 weeks, 5 months, 5 years, 50 years from now when everyone else has left.