Once again a fascinating article by the New York Times, this time looking at how food aid is given to Zambia. The U.S. gives linked aid, which means the food given to countries in need is produced in the U.S. and transported by ships under the U.S. flag before getting to the people in need. Advantages: it supports U.S. farmers while still providing help to the hungry, the food is considered higher quality, and -most importantly- it maintains the support of agribusiness and other lobbying groups for the food aid program. Downside: it is slow and does nothing for the local economy in Zambia.
The Bush administration wants to “de-link” that aid and buy food from local Zambian producers instead. The idea sounds good, but there are plenty of difficult implications. I still don’t know what to think of it. Problem is, in a perfect world, aid would be provided condition-free, but maybe it is more efficient to work with human nature than to try and go against it. Read up and share your thoughts.
[...] The issue is complicated but check out this article in the New York Times and my post from April 8. Depending on the time you have to devote to the topic, you can read the [...]