Sunday, May 20, 2007

US food aid reform?

"It is also a program reformers seize upon as ripe for repair. A recent report from a government watchdog delivered a searing analysis of U.S. food aid, calculating that 65 percent of emergency spending goes to overhead.
The report rooted problems largely in stringent procurement and transport rules that require U.S. shippers to transport U.S. crops to crisis zones.
By the administration's own accounting, it can take as long as five months for food to arrive at hunger hot spots. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which manages most aid delivery, believes the proposed changes would have sped delivery of aid to Iraq in 2003, to Lebanon in 2006, and to East Africa in 2006 and 2007."

A proposal for reforming US food aid and allow local purchases of food to support emergency situations. search the blog for previous post on the topic.

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