Food Aid

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided supplemental information on the economic and market development impact of Food for Peace Program assistance to African countries, focusing on: (1) integration of such assistance with Economic Support Fund and other foreign economic development assistance; and (2) pre-positioning of food commodities in Africa to meet critical needs.

GAO found that: (1) Agency for International Development (AID) and other federal guidance encourages integration of food and non-food assistance; and (2) AID integrates food assistance with its overall development strategy for each country. GAO also found that: (1) in Ghana, AID integrated some resources, but Ghana's reluctance to develop a formal food assistance policy constrained integration; (2) while the overall objectives of the AID policy in Kenya were consistent with its development strategy, integration of resources was not apparent and other donors were willing to provide assistance on a less restrictive basis; (3) in Madagascar, the AID strategy was closely linked with government efforts to increase rice production, but AID did not effectively integrate food and economic assistance; and (4) AID effectively integrated resources in Senegal to help the government stimulate agricultural production and reduce its role in the agricultural sector. In addition, GAO found that AID: (1) pre-positioned some commodities at U.S. ports for Sudan, but anticipated requirements decreased; (2) obtained mixed results from trilateral arrangements under which AID provided commodities to one country for delivery to another country; and (3) preferred not to purchase commodities in advance of formal requests for assistance, because of the risk of buying unused commodities.