Malnutrition And Food Aid Programs: A Case Study From Guatemala Page: 50
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bilateral food aid programs. Therefore, the following section will
review and discuss these criticisms in an attempt to examine the ques-
tion: What are the socioeconomic and political consequences of food
aid?
Criticisms of Food Aid
As best can be ascertained from the literature dealing with food
aid, seven major criticisms can be identified: 1) food aid can
be and i. used as a political tool and/or weapon; 2) food aid is a dis-
incentive to agricultural production and productivity; 3) food aid
creates an unfavorable balance of payments and an unequal transfer
or currencies; 4) food aid is used to create both markets and depen-
dency; 5) food aid is mismanaged; 6) the foodstuffs provided by food
aid programs are inappropriate and, 7) food provided by food aid pro-
grams is insufficient. Each one of these criticisms will be discussed
separately below. Afterwards, some attention will be given to the
positive aspect(s) of food assistance.
Food Aid as a Political Tool
Wiseberg (1976) notes that appropriations of food assistance to
recipient countries are not always based on need, but rather on the
basis of U. S. national security. As noted earlier, one of the express-
end aims in the original version was the "improvement of foreign re-
lations." However, as not mentioned previously, food aid was also
intentionally directed at "friendly" nations on a priority basis (C.G.A.
1954). As D. H. Jacobsen in 1967, then Assistant Secretary of Agri-
culture, states, one of the goals of PL-480 historically was to "avoid
political unrest" (Steiner and Marouser 1967: 12).
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Rodeheaver, Daniel Gilbert, 1954-; Bates, Frederick L. & Murphy, Arthur D. Malnutrition And Food Aid Programs: A Case Study From Guatemala, report, May 1982; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc84342/m1/63/?rotate=270: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT College of Public Affairs and Community Service.