Kenya: Food Aid No Solution to Hunger

Posted to the web 22 July 2008 Alphayo Otieno US PRESIDENT GEORGE W. Bush has announced about $200 million in emergency food aid. This is in addition to his call on Congress to make another $770 million available for food aid. In total, the emergency food aid from the US alone may be close to $1 billion. Historically, the US has been the largest provider of food aid. In the 2007 fiscal year, for example, it provided 2.5 million tonnes of commodities to over 70 countries, with a monetary value of $2.1 billion. Within the same period, it provided 1.5 tonnes of emergency food aid to 30 countries valued at $1.2 billion. Since the beginning of the year, the world has been facing a food crisis. An increase in the price of food staples to sometimes astronomical levels has raised the risk of famine, exposed more people to... [read full story]