Critics slam system as food aid to Guatemala lags

Critics say this practice is inefficient and detrimental to local producers. Plus, selling food on the open market doesn't guarantee that it gets to the most needy.

"The evidence consistently shows that sales of food aid ... are the most disruptive of local production, local markets, and therefore of long-term food security," says a recent report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

Even before the disaster, Guatemala had the highest rate of infant malnutrition in Latin America - affecting nearly half of children under 5 years old.

Food aid isn't new to Guatemala, either. USAID provided a total of $108.1 million in food aid to Guatemala between 2001 and 2005, including $12.4 million through the WFP, according to USAID.

The WFP hasn't taken sides in the food-aid debate between critics and defenders of the current system. "The bottom line is, we welcome food," says Mr. Rowe.

However, he says the WFP analyzes each situation to make sure food aid doesn't have a detrimental effect on local markets or producers.

"We don't want to set the stage for another hunger crisis," says Rowe.

On the other hand, USAID has begun to publicly recognize flaws in the current system.

It recently proposed a budget change that would have allowed the agency to use $300 million of its $1.2 billion food-aid budget to buy food closer to disaster areas.

"In emergency situations, we could move more quickly if we could buy locally," says Leonard Rogers, deputy assistant administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID.

But the idea - which was included in President Bush's 2006 budget proposal - didn't get past the congressional appropriations subcommittees.

"The fact is that the food aid program we have is very popular with the American Congress and the American people," says Mr. Rogers.

Critics say the status quo comes at the expense of the world's hungry. "Congress is basically saying our policy is to fatten the pockets of shipping companies and agrobusinesses instead of feeding starving stomachs," says Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, a California-based, liberal think tank.

Food aid will be a hot debate in the upcoming World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong.

Some members are proposing that the dumping of surplus commodities as food aid be considered a violation of trade rules.

In Guatemala, food aid will be needed for at least six months while farmers replant and harvest new crops, or find new jobs.

But Byron Garoz, a rural development expert at the Guatemalan Coordination of NGOs and Cooperatives (CONGCOOP), said food aid should stop when the emergency does.

"Afterwards, we need to support local production," he said.

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