Food aid is historically a major element of development aid to support longer-term development, and the primary response to help countries and peoples in crisis. This examination of food aid focuses in particular on institutional questions.

For more than 50 years, the U.S. -- which accounts for half of global food aid supplies -- has played an important role in alleviating malnutrition and hunger, esp. during emergencies. In FY 2010, the U.S. spent $1.5 billion on emergency food aid that reached 46.5 million beneficiaries. To preserve the nutritional value of food aid, quality controls are in place throughout the supply chain. This report assessed U.S. efforts to: (1) meet the nutritional needs of intended recipients; and (2) maintain the quality of commodities throughout the food aid supply chain. The auditor interviewed agency officials and their implementing partners, and conducted fieldwork in the U.S. and four countries in Africa. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand report.

Armed conflict combined with prolonged drought has put about 20 million people at risk of starvation and death in Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen, and northern Nigeria. The international development and aid communities are caught between the enormity of the humanitarian crisis, which demands an estimated US$4.4 billion to address, and the lack of resources forthcoming from donors. Food crises, famine-like conditions, and famines recur with regularity in many developing countries (see Box 1 for definitions of terms). Although the current famines can be largely attributed to conflicts, chronic food insecurity also threatens several other African countries. For example, 6.7 million people were affected by Malawi’s largest food crisis in decades in 2016–2017, and the country remains vulnerable to weather extremes that could create food emergencies (World Bank 2017). In Kenya, food security has deteriorated since the end of 2016 and half of its 47 counties face food shortages (Chatterjee and Mengistu 2017). How do countries prepare to prevent shocks—natural and man-made—from generating food crises? What does it take to break the cycle of chronic food insecurity and build resilient food systems? How have some countries managed to prevent drought from leading to famine? In this brief, we document lessons for building resilient food systems to prevent future famines.

The U.S. approach of providing in-kind food aid has assisted millions of hungry people for more than 50 years. But, there have been reports on limitations to its efficiency and effectiveness. To improve U.S. food assistance, Congress has authorized some funding for local and regional procurement (LRP) -- donors' purchase of food aid in countries affected by food crises or in a country within the same region. Through analysis of agency documents, interviews with agency officials, experts, and practitioners, and fieldwork in four African countries, this report examines: (1) LRP's impact on the efficiency of food aid delivery; (2) its impact on economies where food is procured; and (3) U.S. legal requirements that could affect agencies' use of LRP. Illus.

International food aid has rightly been credited with saving millions of lives and is often the only thing that stands between vulnerable people and death. However, it was a serious obstacle in the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations and has been sharply criticised as a donor-driven response that creates dependency on the part of recipients and undermines local agricultural producers and traders upon whom sustainable food security depends. This issue of the 'State of Food and Agriculture' report examines the issues and controversies surrounding international food aid, particularly in crisis situations. It considers the ways in which food aid can support sustainable improvements in food security, in order to preserve its essential humanitarian role whilst minimising the possibility of harmful secondary impacts.