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Ethiopia: US food aid wasteful

Barry Healy

6 November 2009

The system for delivering US aid to help starving African countries, especially Ethiopia, helps contribute to hunger, said an October 22 Oxfam report. US policies ensure the amount spent delivering food aid is double the amount spent on food.

Ethiopia now receives 70% of its food aid from the United States. The World Food Program has appealed for US$285 million, or 419 tonnes of cereal, to help feed Ethiopians over the next six months.

However, Oxfam’s Band Aids and Beyond report said for every US$1 spent on aid, the US pays about $2 transporting it to Ethiopia.

This is because the US government requires that its aid money is spent on food grown in the US. Also, at least half the food must be packed in the US and most of it must be transported in US ships.

Speaking to the US ABC on October 29, Cornell University development economics professor Chris Barrett said the current food aid system is not only expensive, but counter-productive.

"The median time to deliver emergency aid from the US is just under five months", he said. "At a time when food aid is more important than ever before … we don't follow best global practices."

Barrett said the US food distribution agency USAID should buy grain locally or regionally, or use cheaper and easier food transportation so money is spent on aid and not on logistics.

A September US Government Accountability Office report on international food assistance concluded US food aid shipped to 10 different sub-Saharan African countries cost 34% less if bought locally or regionally.