difficult to store food than cash, so when food is plentiful, a food wage is not so appreciated. A
 food wage does have the advantage that it is inflation-proofed.

 It has also been argued that a food wage is more likely to attract women and a cash wage
 men. Undoubtedly if there are high transactions costs in exchanging cash for food, then it is
. women who are likely to bear them, but there is no direct evidence that women prefer a food
 Sage.

iJ The logistics costs of providing a food wage can be substantial. MASAF had to bring in
 the Malawi Red Cross to assist in distributing food from WFP district depots to beneficiaries.
 There are only a limited number of NGOs with the capacity to assist in this way, and it is doubtful
 whether they would see this as an appropriate role, unless they were also involved in developing
 and running the project.

 Although it is argued that FFW projects can have benefits where there are thin and
 unreliable food markets, it can also be argued that bringing in substantial amounts f fd a
 small area can disnlpt what market there is. It is difficult to assess how many FFW projects are
 big enough to have that kind of impact, but it must be considered as a possible negative effect.
 Certainly the current situation, where the FFW component is almost exclusively in the form of
 maize, reinforces the current dependence on maize as a staple crop in Malawi. WFP is keen to
 include other commodities in the food wage, provided they can be purchased in the country or the
 region, or can be donated. This should be encouraged. If the wage is paid in cash, households
 have the option of buying a wider variety of food on the market, as it is available, some of which
 may be lower in price.

 Finally, one of the arguments that is always made for the use of food in projects is that,
 from the donor perspective it represents additional resources. This is because of the different
 ways in which aid programs are funded. This is less and less true nowadays as the supplies of
 food aid dry lup and donor structures are more and more flexible as between the provision of
 commodities and the provision of money. Food should only be used if it has something positive
 to add to a project.


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