Important first step in improving U.S. food aid programs

If you’ve been to the grocery store lately, you’ve noticed that food prices are rising. Since last year, prices for basic foods have gone up about 5 percent in the U.S., from milk to eggs to meat. According to the latest Consumer Price Index, the price for a box of cereal took the biggest jump in more than 30 years.

After years of food prices remaining relatively stable, a convergence of circumstances is driving them through the roof. Booming China and India are eating more meat, leading to a rapid increase in demand for cereals for food and livestock. High oil prices are pushing up the cost of fertilizers and fuel. Climate change is disrupting farming by playing havoc with weather patterns. And countries from the U.S. to the EU are promoting biofuels.

A noticeable price increase is bad news for America’s neediest, especially as we are experiencing a downturn in our economy. But imagine what would happen if food prices would increase by 40 percent, or even 80 percent! That’s precisely what’s happening in poorer parts of the world today.

While food makes up around 10 percent of the average American household, poor people in developing countries spend between 50 to 80 percent of their income on food, so any increase in food prices will reduce food consumption and increase hunger, especially for those already living on the edge. A 20 percent increase in food prices can be catastrophic, leaving precious little for other necessities, like medicines, farm tools or school fees.

In a world where more than 850 million people are chronically hungry, this is only making matters worse — much, much worse. Food riots broke out in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and the Ivory Coast this month in protest of rising prices. In Senegal, parents are pulling children out of school and putting them to work so they can eat. In Mali, tensions are so high that many fear there will be a social crisis if something is not done immediately to curb unaffordable food prices. In Haiti, a week of protests left five people dead and about 20 injured. The World Bank estimates that 33 countries face potential social unrest because of the acute hike in food and energy prices.

Global action is needed.

In the long term, a better global system of safety nets must be developed so that poor families faced with fluctuating prices can survive price shocks and meet basic needs. Our humanitarian response strategies need to be revamped to include a broader range of interventions and better preventative actions. We need to revisit ethanol mandates and scrap trade-distorting subsidies in the EU and the U.S., as well as increase investment in small-scale agriculture in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Finally, we need to recognize that developing countries need to have flexibilities in national trade policies to manage food security and rural development, and to support the poorest and most marginalized farmers to gain from current price rises.

But the most urgent thing we can do is reform food aid programs. President Bush’s move to release an additional $200 million in emergency aid is a good first step. What Congress needs to do now is reform food aid policies to allow for food to be purchased where it is needed rather than shipping it halfway around the world.

Americans are the most generous donors of food aid in the world, providing half of the world’s food aid. But Congress requires all food aid to be purchased from American farmers, even when it is available closer to where it is needed. Congress mandates that food aid be processed and bagged in the U.S., even when that is the costliest option. Congress mandates that most food aid be shipped on U.S.-flagged vessels, greatly adding to costs and delays. So for every dollar we spend on food aid, only 50 cents actually reaches the people in need.

Congress is still debating the farm bill, the legislative package that governs our food and farm policy, including international food aid programs. A simple change in the law to allow some cash for local purchase of commodities would immediately increase the efficiency of food aid programs and feed more hungry people.

With a global food crisis expanding rapidly, Congress needs to demonstrate that the U.S. is prepared to lead in helping avert starvation and social unrest resulting from high food prices. This simple fix in U.S. policy is an important first step.

Offenheiser is president of Oxfam America.