blog post 14- food dumping

14. One way that developed countries 'help' the less fortunate nations of the world is by offering aid in the form of food. This approach to aid has been criticized by some as ineffective at best, and criminal at worst. Read through the material posted here, then answer the question: "What is food dumping, and how does it contribute to the cycle of poverty and dependence among the world's poorest people?" Also, offer a solution to the problem.

Food dumping is when over production in countries that produce large amounts of specific agricultural products ends up on the open market and often delivered to under developed countries. The problem with this is this excess production is delivered to those countries at a price point that makes it impossible for the local farmer to plant, tend and harvest his crop for any profit.  The principal problem becomes that local agricultural production is forced from operating leaving the country completely dependent on food imports. This is done for both economic and political reasons. The economic reason is that they need a market for the food that is produced by farmers in western countries to enable them to plant the same amount of crops the following year. Dumping is done politically often under the disguise of good will to underdeveloped countries, often termed “food aid.”  In reality it is simply the dumping of agriculture over production. Strategic advantages also come with donation of foodstuffs. This is typically done in treaty negotiations as part of the compensation given to underdeveloped countries for political, economic or military concessions. These countries can become dependent on this supply of cheap outside food. This is not offering them any constructive ability to fix their own agriculture and thus they are stuck in a cycle of poverty. I believe an effective solution to this problem would be to supply agriculture technology and education to help provide them a means of supplying themselves. For example instead of a hose they need tractors or perhaps they need irrigation technology or even guaranteeing the government of the underdeveloped countries a guaranteed market for a crop that they may produce in large scale but not as cheaply as some other nations of the world.