Comments on: Disaster aid: Killing with kindness?

By: Mallika Henry

Mallika Henry — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:58:55 +0000

I imagine there are few issues more important than food and hunger. And few governments that take their poorest people seriously, including in the United States. I imagine that any aid organization dealing with a government as cruel as that of Myanmar has their hands tied. I think the more that can be done to publicize the peculiar politics of food handouts, the better. I recently attended a lecture on hunger, only to learn that most of the farming in the world is done by very small subsistence farmers. If everything can be done to aid such farmers to grow and sell their crops at reasonable prices, and not flood the market with food the US wants to unload, it seems that would begin to address the problem. But the more information is made available on how food aid distorts markets and causes hunger, the better. Thank you for writing about it!

By: Hal

Hal — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:11:22 +0000

Yes, it's very unfortunate that it takes a disaster to elevate these issues to mainstream focus. Change has to start somewhere–why not with us? Thanks for your comments, Michael.

By: Michael_Melton

Michael_Melton — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:57:05 +0000

I'd prefer a world where we worked on a better food distribution system, so that all countries could flourish. A world that was not dependent on first world countries for their survival. A world that wasn't being torn apart by American subsidies. I believe that we have much larger food distribution issues than just during disasters. However, the only time we want to talk about distribution is during a disaster. I guess the process needs to start somewhere, and I thank you for the great article.

By: Hal

Hal — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:29:05 +0000

I believe I read somewhere that the WFP's usual protocol is to buy food locally, to support the economy of the country they're working in, but they were prohibited from doing so in this case due to fears of a food shortage. In your view, what would a more beneficial aid system look like?

By: Michael_Melton

Michael_Melton — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:36:35 +0000

I've always felt that international aid is a joke. Instead of helping the country develop a strong backbone, and becoming self reliant, we wait for them to fail. Then we parade in with American made products, instead of supporting the local economy. Mean while, there are plenty of starving people in the world we couldn't care less about. We only like to help when the world is watching, not when people are really in need.