CARE rejects $46 million in U.S. aid
Subsidized Grain Dumping Said to Wipe Out Third World Farmers
Katharine Houreld, The Associated Press
NAIROBI, KENYA - A humanitarian group has turned down $46 million worth of U.S. food aid, arguing that the way the American government distributes its help hurts poor farmers.
CARE said that wheat donated by the U.S. government and sold by charities to finance anti-poverty programs results in low-priced crops being dumped on local markets and that small-scale growers cannot compete.
Other experts said they share CARE's concern but stressed that food donations are sometimes needed when a natural disaster harms a local area's agriculture.
The Atlanta-based CARE agreed with that view. "We are not against emergency food aid for things like drought and famine," spokeswoman Alina Labrada said Thursday. But, she added, the donation of wheat and other crops does not help in regions where people consistently go hungry because local farming has been weakened by international competition.
"They are being hurt instead of helped by this mechanism," she said. Such areas would be helped more, she said, if the U.S. and other donors gave cash that could be spent on locally produced crops, which would stimulate agricultural expansion.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said Thursday that its experts carry out detailed assessments to try to ensure that commodities do not disrupt local production.
CARE decided in 2005 to phase out accepting grain donations within four years, but the move is gaining new attention because of the current debate in the U.S. Congress over the farm bill, which is reauthorized every five years.
"This is a crucial time," Labrada said. "It will set policy for the next five years."
Washington spends an average of $2 billion on food aid programs a year, mostly funneling the help through the United Nations' World Food Program. The U.S. farm sector and the maritime industry are the biggest supporters of the current system. The program soaks up surplus farm production, and shippers get lucrative contracts to transport donated grain for sale in needy regions.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office published a study in April saying that emergency American food aid takes an average of 4.5 months to arrive and that legal requirements mean two-thirds of the money spent goes for packing and shipping.
In the past two farm bills, the U.S. administration called for a partial shift to cash donations instead of grain, but that was voted down by farm supporters.
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