North Korea is biggest recipient of UN food aid

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today that “Emergency food aid now accounts for one half to two thirds of all food aid, with 39 countries receiving it. Over the past two decades, the number of food emergencies has doubled from 15 to 30 a year, with much of the increase occurring in Africa, where they have tripled. The biggest food aid recipient in recent years has been the Democratic Republic of Korea, which receives an annual average of 1.1 million tonnes of grain equivalents – amounting to over 20 percent of the country’s total food supply. Ethiopia and Bangladesh come respectively second and third…FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said, ‘No person of conscience can deny the moral imperative to help people who are unable to feed themselves’…

The FAO also recommended, today, ending the widespread practice of ‘tying’ food aid to specific conditions — which it said results in roughly a third of the global food aid budget, or some $600 million, being spent in donor countries and never reaching beneficiaries. As much as 90 percent of all food aid resources may be ‘tied’ to some specific conditions. The FAO said its research shows that, at present, the world’s leading food donors spend as much as half of their food aid budgets on domestic processing and shipping by their own national carriers. Overall, one third of global food-aid resources were wasted by such requirements, it added.

In its latest annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), the FAO urged that “Wherever possible, aid should be provided in the form of cash or food coupons rather than food aid shipments, which can affect producers and markets in recipient countries and distort international trade…Food aid has undoubtedly saved millions of lives and performs other valuable functions such as helping to keep children in school and supplementing the diets of expectant mothers. Nonetheless, such aid can disrupt local markets and undermine the resilience of local food systems, the report said, especially when it arrives at the wrong time or reaches the wrong people. Another problem is that it can displace commercial exports – one of the most contentious issues in the currently stalled Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. In contrast with aid in kind, ‘cash-based transfers or food vouchers can stimulate local production, strengthen local food systems and empower recipients in ways that traditional food aid cannot,’ the report said.

The FAO report proposed a series of major changes in the way international food aid is managed and delivered:

— Eliminate programme, or government-to-government food aid, which, by definition, is not specifically targeted to needy groups. Stop the ‘monetization’ of aid, whereby one out of every four tonnes of food aid is sold in local markets of recipient countries to generate funds for development.

— Deliver aid in the form of cash or food coupons where possible, and use in-kind food aid only where food insecurity is due to a shortage of food rather than to such problems as access to food. Assistance aimed at improving markets – by repairing roads or improving rural infrastructure, for example – is liable to be more effective.

— Use local and regional food-aid procurement where appropriate, as this can be of great benefit to agricultural development in many low-income developing countries. Such purchases are not always desirable, however, as they can increase local prices.

— Improve information systems, needs analysis and monitoring. When crises occur repeatedly and hunger is chronic, donors and recipients can get caught in a ‘relief trap’ in which longer-term development strategies are neglected.” http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000482/index.html

At today’s Noon Briefing at UNHQ/NY today, journalists asked why the Secretary-General’s intention to audit all UN funds and programmes seemed to be now limited. The Deputy Spokesman said that the initial focus of the inquiry would be on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Nevertheless, that was just a first step… Using the External Board of Auditors was indeed drawing on existing UN resources, but it was important to note that the Board involved external and not UN auditors, he said… Asked if the Secretary-General now felt that he had the power to order audits in agencies, funds and programmes, the Spokesman said that was not the case, because agencies had their own auditing mechanisms. The Secretary-General did, however, want to find ways where everyone could work together to get these audits implemented… Regarding the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in particular, the Spokesman clarified that the Secretary-General did not command UNDP’s Executive Board, which was made up of Member States. Nevertheless, that board’s next meeting on Thursday was open to accredited journalists…UN Controller Warren Sach would be available to give the press more information on this topic on Friday.