REFORMULATING UNITED-STATES FOOD AID POLICY FOR DEVELOPMENT

One of the most fundamental questions emerging from recent scrutiny of US foreign assistance efforts is whether the PL 480 food aid programme is making a significant, positive contribution to the economic and social development of poorer nations. Despite the validity of certain past criticisms of food aid as a development vehicle, it is the premise of this paper that US food assistance CAN have a positive developmental impact but that this will require reformulation of policy goals, redesign of programme components, and reorganization of administrative structures. Seven basic policy and programme design questions are addressed herein: What should be the goals of food aid? Who should receive food aid? How much aid should be given? Which kind of food should be given? Under what terms should food aid be given? What delivery systems should be used? How should the aid effort be organized? It is argued that the current (but temporary) respite from serious food deficits in many developing countries has provided an ideal opportunity for the US Government to reevaluate the current PL 480 programme and to incorporate the above concerns into a rational and comprehensive, developmental food aid policy. © 1979.