The effectiveness of food aid on food availability and food stability among small scale pastoralist communities in Tana River County, Kenya.

Abstract

Food aid is one of the principal methods in which food is made available during the times of food insecurity. Food aid, both for short-term emergency relief and development-oriented programs is a major component of food security in developing nations. Sub-Sahara Africa receives a third of all food aid in the world. Food aid in Africa is massive and controversial and is associated with reducing long-term food availability and food stability, making households even more insecure. It is asserted that food aid has an extramarginal effect, causing households to displace their sources of food and income in anticipation of food aid; creating insufficient food availability and hence affecting overall food stability. Long-term provision of aid to people in need of assistance is associated with the fear of creating a dependency syndrome. The primary concerns are that beneficiaries will lose the motivation to work to improve their livelihoods after receiving benefits, or that they will deliberately reduce their work efforts to qualify for the transfers. While there is effectively collective agreement as to the desirability of the goal of reducing acute and chronic food insecurity, there remains substantial dispute as to how effective food aid is in achieving the goal of reducing or eliminating long term food insecurity. Furthermore, policymakers are pushing for better approaches that can be used to reduce dependency and tackle the adverse effects of food dependency. Donor agencies have expressed keen interest in shifting from food distributions to cash assistance or more sustainable methods. Specific alternatives are being put forward to food aid such as Cash-Based Transfer (CBT) and Food for Work (FFW). Cash transfers are a social protection mechanism to reduce the most impoverished households’ vulnerability to shocks and build human capital by smoothing consumption and sustaining expenditure on education and social welfare. This thesis explores the dynamics surrounding food aid and its effectiveness on food securit