U.S. Food-Aid Programs
Questions and Answers
1. What is U.S. food aid? What does it
consist of?
The U.S. government’s largest food-aid
program provides assistance overseas in two
basic forms:
• In-kind donations: Staple food items
are distributed to survivors of disasters or
used to support economic development in
poor countries. Items that are distributed
include: flour or cornmeal; rice; peas,
beans, and lentils; vegetable oil; powdered
milk; and high-protein products made from
peanuts. Items appropriate to the diets of the
recipients are distributed.
• Funding: Food from the United States is
donated to a poor country and then sold there.
The revenue is used to fund projects carried
out by private charities or intergovernmental
organizations, primarily the World Food
Program. The projects support agricultural,
economic, or infrastructure development.
2. What countries are the top recipients of
U.S. food aid?
The United States is the world’s largest
donor of food aid, supplying 60 percent of the
total. Since the United States began its current
food-aid programs in 1961, it has helped 3 billion
people in 150 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin
America, the Caribbean, and Africa. In fiscal
year 2012, the U.S. government provided almost
$2 billion in emergency and development food
assistance around the world. In FY 2012:
• the top recipients of emergency food aid
were all in Africa: Ethiopia, Sudan, South
Sudan, Somalia, and Chad.
• the top recipients of development food
aid were in Africa and Asia: Ethiopia,
Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Malawi, and South Sudan.
• In Latin America (and the Caribbean), the
top food-aid recipients were: Haiti, Colombia,
Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras.
3. How does the U.S. government
administer food aid?
The U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) oversee the food-aid
programs of the U.S. government. The largest
food-aid program is authorized under Public
Law 480 and is called Food for Peace (funded at
$1.562 billion in FY 2012).
The Food for Peace program, administered
by USAID, provides food aid in two major
categories:
• Emergency food aid is immediate, lifesaving assistance and comes in the form
of direct, free distribution to people in a
famine or to survivors of natural or humancaused disasters.
• Development assistance provides food
aid over the long term to address chronic
hunger and to support a poor country’s
agricultural, economic, or infrastructure
development.
Food aid is also carried out under the
McGovern-Dole International Food for
Education and Child Nutrition Program
(funded at $188 million in FY 2012),
administered by USDA. “McGovern-Dole”
helps support education, child development,
and food security for some of the world’s
poorest children.
Some current laws cause inefficiencies in the
way USAID provides food aid:
• Most food aid used in Food for Peace must be
grown in the United States. This constrains
USAID’s ability to use cash transfers and
food vouchers in emergencies and to obtain
food in or near the country of need, even
when these methods are shown to be most
cost-effective.
• Half of all food-aid products must be shipped
on American ships. The Government
Accountability Office reports that obtaining
and shipping food aid can take as long as
6 months and add as much as 60 cents for
each dollar spent on food aid.
• With some food aid, food is donated to
a poor country and then sold there. The
revenue is used to fund projects carried out
by private charities or intergovernmental
organizations, primarily the World
Food Program. This practice is called
“monetization.” These organizations get, on
average, only 70 cents back per dollar spent
on these sales.
“Bread for the World’s
commitment to put the
poor and hungry first in our
national priorities reflects
both the Gospel and the
strong words and actions
of Pope Francis. One of the
best things about Bread’s
Offering of Letters is that it
brings together our advocacy
for more resources to feed a
hungry world and efforts to
reform and improve food-aid
programs to make them more
responsive and effective.”
– John Carr, Director of
the Initiative on Catholic Social
Thought and Public Life,
Georgetown University
2014 Offering of Letters 5