Food Sovereignty: Ending World Hunger in Our Time - Essay Example

By establishing strong ties with the U.S. government, the company was able to earn a significantly large amount of profit without having to worry about potential competitors that could offer the U.S. government with cheaper prices of similar food products. Since most of the U.S. food aid is given to developing countries in the form of ‘in-kind’, U.S. based manufacturing companies that produces food, seeds, and other farming-related products are the ones that earn profit out of the food aid program.

The same is true in the case of the U.S. shipping companies since the 1985 Farm Bill requires 75% of the U.S. food aid to be shipped solely by U.S. vessels. (Mousseau & Mittal, 2006: 66) DiscussionGiven that the United States is considered a developed country, the volume of food products that are shipped to developing countries under the said food aid program is significantly less because of the high prices of U.S. food products and the shipping cost via U.S. vessels. For this reason, it is arguable that the U.S. food aid program is not really focused on minimizing the global hunger but a way of strengthening its own economy by allowing the food manufacturing and U.S. shipping companies to earn more profit from the said program.

ConclusionThe main focus of the U.S. food aid program is to increase the sales and profitability of its local food manufacturers and shipping companies rather than exerting an effort to improve its efficiencies in terms of being able to deliver large quantities of food aid products to the less fortunate individuals around the world in case of emergencies.To effectively prevent global hunger, developed countries like the United States should refocus the main priorities of the U.S. food aid program in helping the poor by extending the network of its food supply from other developing countries.