Read article here: US Food Aid Hurts
It makes sense to me. Interesting though. I thought food aid would be only food directly distributed to those who were hungry. This article seems to indicate that this food is only going to be sold in the local systems. Thoughts?
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2 comments:
Hi Sari
Thanks for the comments on my blog :).
Now coming back to yours and the article, I would say I skimmed over it and what stood out for me was the parts on teaching people how to grow crops. I know closer to home we have gone through land reform and the neighboring Zimbabwean land grabs, people have been given land with absolutely no idea how to make it profitable and end up doing subsistence farming, which doesn’t help the masses, and the land is being wasted. So if they do use the money from the sale of the donated goods, it is doing a lot of good instead of harm :).
Lotsa luv
Penny
Old wisdom when it comes to helping others: you can only help them to learn to help themselves. You have to teach them, so they can be independent. They own the problem.
Now I'm not opposed food aid when there is really hunger and scarcety, when it is needed.
What I find difficult, is that with all this aid, the difference in power comes up. That provokes resistance too.
I have a problem with the way we Western countries help the poor countries. I find we only make them more dependent at times, like we are afraid to hand them some power.
And yes, Penny is right, Zimbabwe is an excellent example. The farmers who had the knowledge were chased away (mostly white people) and the land was given to people who had no idea what to do with it.
Very interesting topic!
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