On The Choice and Impacts of Innovative International Food Assistance Instruments

The rise of new food assistance instruments, including local and regional procurement, cash, and vouchers, has surpassed increase in understanding of the tradeoffs among and impacts of these options relative to traditional food aid. Response choices rarely appear to result from systematic response analyses. Further, impacts along multiple dimensions-timeliness, cost-effectiveness, local market effects, recipient satisfaction, food quality, impact on smallholder suppliers, etc.-may be competing or synergistic. No single food assistance tool is always and everywhere preferable. A growing body of evidence, including the papers in this special section, nonetheless demonstrates the clear value-added of new food assistance instruments. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethiopia's Food Reserve Policies and Practice

Ethiopia has for a long time been one of the world’s most food-insecure countries. Efforts by the government and a multitude of sponsors including NGOs have developed an array of institutions and instruments to mitigate the negative impact of production and supply disruptions. Public stockpiles are one such tool, the use of which is rapidly increasing worldwide. This brief field study examines the Ethiopian policies and practice in context, including various instruments operated by farmers, processors and traders. The study finds that the multiple objectives assigned to food reserves as well as the present management structure may not be well-suited at a time of high world market prices and when international food aid is dwindling, and as the international regulatory trade and investment environment remains a matter of unfinished business from a global food security perspective. A comprehensive study of various options for improvements would lay out policy alternatives for public authorities and stakeholders.

Do WTO rules improve or impair the right to food?

The global food crisis of 2007–08 seems to be forgotten. Media attention at the time focused on food riots in Haiti and Mozambique, while world leaders and more than a dozen international organizations gathered for several food summits, calling for immediate relief measures. But not a single government seems to remember its obligations under the Right to Food (R2F) which the United Nations (UN) had enshrined back in 1948. Today we have to acknowledge that the R2F still lacks an adequate response under the present multilateral rules and disciplines applying to food production and trade. This chapter examines the present rules and disciplines under the AoA and of those contemplated in the Doha Development Round. Here we find that despite claims to the contrary they contribute precious little to the R2F. Some of the present rules, or the lack thereof, can even act as disincentives for global and national food security. Various forms of production and export subsidies, food aid abuse and export restrictions, are still WTO-legal, with few remedies available to food insecure developing countries. This amounts to a violation of their R2F obligations by many WTO Members.

After Bali: WTO Rules Applying to Public Food Reserves

Once more, agriculture threatened to prevent all progress in multilateral trade rule-making at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2013. But this time, the “magic of Bali” worked. After the clock had been stopped mainly because of the food security file, the ministers adopted a comprehensive package of decisions and declarations mainly in respect of development issues. Five are about agriculture. Decision 38 on Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes contains a “peace clause” which will now be shielding certain stockpile programmes from subsidy complaints in formal litigation. This article provides contextual background and analyses this decision from a legal perspective. It finds that, at best, Decision 38 provides a starting point for a WTO Work Programme for food security, for review at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference which will probably take place in 2017. At worst, it may unduly widen the limited window for government-financed competition existing under present rules in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture – yet without increasing global food security or even guaranteeing that no subsidy claims will be launched, or entertained, under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Hence, the Work Programme should find more coherence between farm support and socio-economic and trade objectives when it comes to stockpiles. This also encompasses a review of the present WTO rules applying to other forms of food reserves and to regional or “virtual” stockpiles. Another “low hanging fruit” would be a decision to exempt food aid purchases from export restrictions.

Famine responses in the world food crisis 1972–5 and the World Food Conference of 1974

In the early 1970s, there was scarcity in the world grain market, soaring prices and famines in several countries of Asia and Africa. The commercial grain trade was expanded at the expense of food aid. After a brief look at policies addressing the situation in terms of modernised methods of agricultural production for small producers, the article sketches how such policies also affected relief efforts, from the low availability for food aid, the provision of food that was not useful and late deliveries through efforts to tie food aid to local changes in agricultural production and settlement patterns. In part, food aid thus reinforced processes of social differentiation that had contributed to causing the famines in the first place.

Food for freedom ... annual report on Public Law 480.

Transmitted to the Congress by the President of the United States.

Insights on food and nutrition in the Federated States of Micronesia: a review of the literature

Background: Nutrition-related disorders, including vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and chronic diseases, are serious problems in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Many suggest that these disorders are new problems related to dietary and lifestyle changes. In the past four decades, imported foods, such as white rice, flour, sugar, refined foods and fatty meats, have increasingly replaced local foods in the diet. Aim: A literature review was conducted to understand underlying issues related to dietary change and obtain insights for nutrition research and interventions. Method: Published and unpublished papers from different disciplines were reviewed and collated for information on food and nutrition in FSM. Topics covered were historical background, local foods, infant and child feeding, dietary assessment, and nutritional status. Particular focus was on information and data relating to VAD, the primary topic that led to the review of the literature. Conclusions: FSM, a tropical country of abundant agricultural resources, has suffered a great loss in production and consumption of local foods. Inconsistent external and internal government policies and food aid programmes have contributed to the problem. Further research on the nutrient content of local foods and factors affecting production, acquisition and consumption is needed, as well as a broad, well-planned, intersectoral intervention aimed at dietary improvement for all age groups in the population.

Foreign aid and the national interest : the cases of the United States and Japan

Developed countries give foreign assistance for many reasons, one of which is the protection of national interests. Foreign aid gives a donor country leverage in international relations and is used as a tool of foreign policy. The United States and Japan are the two largest aid donors in the world. Each of these countries exert influence over specific regions through foreign assistance. Although the national interests of each country are different, both use foreign aid to protect these interests. This thesis discusses the means by which the United States and Japan use foreign aid in foreign policy. It looks specifically at U.S. food aid to Central America and Japanese aid to Asia.

Programas de asistencia alimentaria : Un caso de estudio de intervención social en la alimentación familiar en un barrio pobre de la ciudad de La Plata, Argentina

El objetivo del artículo es presentar un análisis de la importancia que adquieren diferentes intervenciones de los programas alimentarios en un barrio pobre de la Ciudad de La Plata, Argentina, entre los años 2006 y 2008, señalando el lugar que ocupan en la resolución de las necesidades alimentarias tal como son reconocidas y evaluadas por sus destinatarios. Se detallan las características del trabajo empírico realizado en ese barrio y, a partir de los relatos de las beneficiarias, se reconstruyeron las visiones sobre el lugar que ocupan los productos y prestaciones de esos programas en los consumos habituales, junto con la adaptación, aceptación y utilización de los mismos, destacando los distintos aportes de la ayuda alimentaria estatal en términos de seguridad y soberanía alimentaria mediante la aplicación del enfoque de derechos al análisis de políticas sociales

Programas de asistencia alimentaria : Un caso de estudio de intervención social en la alimentación familiar en un barrio pobre de la ciudad de La Plata, Argentina

El objetivo del artículo es presentar un análisis de la importancia que adquieren diferentes intervenciones de los programas alimentarios en un barrio pobre de la Ciudad de La Plata, Argentina, entre los años 2006 y 2008, señalando el lugar que ocupan en la resolución de las necesidades alimentarias tal como son reconocidas y evaluadas por sus destinatarios. Se detallan las características del trabajo empírico realizado en ese barrio y, a partir de los relatos de las beneficiarias, se reconstruyeron las visiones sobre el lugar que ocupan los productos y prestaciones de esos programas en los consumos habituales, junto con la adaptación, aceptación y utilización de los mismos, destacando los distintos aportes de la ayuda alimentaria estatal en términos de seguridad y soberanía alimentaria mediante la aplicación del enfoque de derechos al análisis de políticas sociales

Programas de asistencia alimentaria : Un caso de estudio de intervención social en la alimentación familiar en un barrio pobre de la ciudad de La Plata, Argentina

El objetivo del artículo es presentar un análisis de la importancia que adquieren diferentes intervenciones de los programas alimentarios en un barrio pobre de la Ciudad de La Plata, Argentina, entre los años 2006 y 2008, señalando el lugar que ocupan en la resolución de las necesidades alimentarias tal como son reconocidas y evaluadas por sus destinatarios. Se detallan las características del trabajo empírico realizado en ese barrio y, a partir de los relatos de las beneficiarias, se reconstruyeron las visiones sobre el lugar que ocupan los productos y prestaciones de esos programas en los consumos habituales, junto con la adaptación, aceptación y utilización de los mismos, destacando los distintos aportes de la ayuda alimentaria estatal en términos de seguridad y soberanía alimentaria mediante la aplicación del enfoque de derechos al análisis de políticas sociales

Emagrecer sem benefícios

A sociedade moderna tem instituído novos valores, crenças e formas de vida. Estamos sempre à procura de novas maneiras de tornar a vida do ser humano mais fácil e prática, privilegiando o menor esforço, o conforto e o sedentarismo. No entanto, este tipo de vida tem as suas consequências. Uma das principais decorre do facto de haver uma diminuição da atividade física, enquanto a ingestão calórica habitual do indivíduo pouco ou nada varia. Isto vai levar a que a maior parte da capacidade energética da comida que ingerimos não seja gasta e, como tal, vai depositar-se e acumular-se nos tecidos, originando aos poucos camadas de gordura cuja formação, não sendo controlada (o que é possível com uma mudança de hábitos), pode conduzir à obesidade. A obesidade não é só um problema estético, mas também um factor de risco para muitas doenças. São-nos apresentadas muitas opções para solucionar este problema, sendo que a grande maioria dos utentes prefere a opção que implica menos esforço: uso de medicamentos. Neste artigo são exploradas as vantagens e as contrapartidas deste tipo de ajuda, expondo factos que talvez o público desconheça e que devem ser considerados na hora da decisão.

Condicionantes económicas de Colombia y la alianza del Pacífico

La principal finalidad de este estudio, es presentar una visión actualizada y genérica respecto a las condicionantes económicas de Colombia en particular y las relacionadas con el conjunto de países que conforman la Alianza del Pacífico en general –Chile, Colombia, México y Perú. Se trata de un estudio no experimental, descriptivo-interpretativo con énfasis en la revisión de datos. Entre las conclusiones más importantes se destacan los niveles de crecimiento económico con mayor estabilidad se presentan en Chile y Perú, una dependencia comercial exterior de México hacia Estados Unidos y que en Colombia se tiene el caso de que el aumento de producción que se hace evidente, no impacta tanto como era de esperarse, en la variable empleo.