Chapter 6


* The type of prevailing food deficits (production, market supply, and/or demand deficits,
 latent, transitory or chronic food shortages) to be addressed by the food aid interventions.
* The agricultural sector and food policy in the recipient country, and the role of food aid
 in national food and/or nutrition strategies, if defined.
* The intended and the actual use of food aid interventions (relief, project, programme aid,
 food security reserves).
* In the case of relief and project aid: the extent to which target groups are effectively
 reached and their food and nutrition situation status improved.
* Disincentive risks of food aid resulting from distortions of the local food system (prices,
 markets, production, consumption), caused for example by the effects of formal and
 informal monetisation or changes of consumption patterns induced by food aid
 interventions. Distinctions must be made between short-run and long-term effects.
* The costs of food aid interventions (comprising procurement costs, international transport
 costs, internal transport and storage costs, administrative and management costs, leakage,
 etc.), in comparison with alternative forms of food aid procurement and use (e.g financial
 aid to effect commercial imports, conventional supplies versus local purchases or
 triangular transactions, direct distribution versus subsidies or normal marketing channels).
* Clarification, as to what extent food aid supplies represent additional resources
 (considering all cost components involved in food aid transactions, see above), and to
 what extent food aid competes for resources with other forms of development assistance.
* Assessment of the cost-effectiveness of food aid interventions in achieving food security
 in comparison, and/or in combination, with other forms of foreign assistance and external
 resource transfers, i.e. financial and technical assistance.

The effectiveness of food aid in strengthening food security largely depends on the way food
aid is utilised by the recipients and provided by the donors. Often there is substantial scope
for improvement, specifically concerning the following issues:

On the recipient country side:
* Formulation of a national food security programme and integration of food aid within the
 same;
* Development of national preparedness plans, including early warning systems;
* Development of institutional and physical infrastructure for storage and distribution;
* Priority use of counterpart funds according to food security objectives;
* Commitment of complementary local resources to food aid projects (or, alternatively,
 integration of food aid components in development projects).
 On the donor side:
 Multi-annual country programming of food aid commitments, specifically concerning the
 provision of programme and project food aid;
 Sensible use of regulations concerning "Usual Marketing Requirements" in food aid
 agreements with recipient countries.


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