Chapter 6


Major food aid donors are the USA, the European Union (Commission and member states)
and the WFP (serving as the major multilateral channel for food aid between donor and
recipient countries).

Table 6.1 provides further evidence on some distinct features of overall food aid flows by
region, purpose and commodity group. :

Tab 6.1: Key data on global food aid flows, 1991-1995

 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995*

1. Total Food Aid Deliveries 13.2 15.2 16.9 12.6 9.5
 (in million tons cereals in grain equivalent)
 a) Cereals (in million tons grain equivalent) 12.0 13.4 15.1 10.7 8.4
 b) Non-cereals (in million tons) 1.2 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.1

2. Food Aid Procurement in Developing Countries 8.5 9.5 9.7 11.6 16.2
 (% of total)

3. Food Aid Deliveries by Category (% of total)
 a) Programme 50 50 60 44 40
 b) Relief 27 33 25 34 34
 c) Project 23 17 15 22 26

4. Food Aid Deliveries by Recipient Country-Regions
 (% of total)
 a) Sub-Saharan Africa 31 40 29 34 33
 b) South an East Asia 23 18 12 20 24
 c) Eastern European and NIS Countries 8 20 41 28 26
 d) Latin America and Caribbean 15 12 12 11 10
 e) North Africa and Middle East 23 10 6 7 7

5. Food Aid Deliveries by Recipient Country Category
 (% of total)
 a) Deliveries to Developing Countries 93 87 68 86 93
 b) Deliveries to Low-Income Food Deficit Countries 84 80 62 78 80
 c) Deliveries to Least Developed Countries 43 44 29 45 43

6. Total Cereal Food Aid Deliveries expressed as % of:

 a) World Cereal Production 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.4
 b) World Cereal Imports 6.4 6.2 7.1 5.6 4.2

7. Cereal Food Aid Deliveries to LIFDC as % of:
 a) LIFDC Cereal Production 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.0 0.8
 b) LIFDC Cereal Imports 18 14.8 13.3 13.5 9.4

 Provisional
 Source: WFP (INTERFAIS), March 1996 and FAO, Food Outlook, November-December 1995

 Depending on its use, food aid is classified into three main categories:
 Programme, or non-project food aid,
 Relief food aid,
 Project food aid.


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