Food aid and development : the impact and effectiveness of bilateral PL-480 Title I-type assistance

This report surveys existing literature on the nearly 30-year-old P.L. 480 program to assess the direct and developmental impacts of program food aid (Titles I and III) on recipient countries. An analysis of the direct impact of Title I programs discusses why food aid may be an inferior form of resource transfer, investigates the food import problems of low-income countries and the relation between food aid and food security, and evaluates the use of food aid as balance of payments support. The developmental impact of food aid is discussed next, with special attention given to its incentive and disincentive effects; the role of changing tastes; the impact of food aid on government policies, nutrition, income distribution, and production technology; and the results of targeting poorer groups. A discussion of programming and operational issues covers the increasing importance of donor effectiveness, the relation of food aid to other development assistance programs, and conditionality requirements for host country self-help measures. A brief summary of the highly diverse impacts of food aid on development concludes the report. Appendices include a review of food aid in India and a six-page list of references (1936-81).