Food aid, the right way
The Dallas Morning News
Dallas, TX
May 9, 2008
May 9--The United States isn't the only place where rising food prices are scaring the bejabbers out of people. The situation is far worse in places such as Haiti, Egypt and Cambodia.
Dire shortages in some lands have ignited food riots around the globe, putting a human face on the numbers the World Bank recently found. It estimates that 33 nations risk instability because their people can't afford the 83 percent rise in global food prices over the last three years.
Responding to this crisis last week, President Bush rightly called for $770 million more in U.S. food aid. Congressional Democrats such as Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois also want to alleviate the crisis, which partly stems from Washington's subsidies to U.S. farmers. Those subsidies are helping drive up commodity prices, which increase global food costs.
We're less optimistic that Congress will control farm subsidies this year, but Washington certainly can help get more food aid into the pipeline. Lawmakers should follow the lead of Mr. Bush and anti-hunger organizations like Bread for the World.
They want to use some U.S. food aid dollars to purchase the produce local farmers grow in their struggling nations. They also want more American food aid distributed by shippers outside the United States.
The reason is simple: The U.S. requirement that American farmers supply U.S. food aid packages -- and that those packages be shipped on American ships -- makes it more costly to get aid abroad. As the charity Oxfam America said in a statement, America's "generosity is undermined by legal restrictions and bureaucracy."
What's more, the prerequisite for American-grown food makes it harder for countries to develop their own farm markets. The U.N. food program's head has been pushing for more agricultural production in developing nations so they can feed themselves.
The Bush proposal provides a good place to start that transition. He wants Congress to use a quarter of the proposed $770 million to purchase locally grown foods.
We hope Congress makes this part of its food aid package. The U.S. needs to help meet the world's need. But it needs to meet it smartly.
