Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Matthew R. Sanderson / Food crises in Kenya are recurring phenomena. Despite widespread and perennial famines, Kenya is exporting food while importing food aid. This study focuses on the concept and question of food security in Kenya. If Kenya can produce and even export food products, why does the country still import food aid every year? Why is the country classified as food insecure? And why does the country still suffer from recurrent famines? Drawing on social science theory from the political economy of food and agriculture, this study postulates that the contradiction between exporting food and importing food aid is related to Kenya‟s subordinate position in the world economy. Using a comparative-historical, in-depth case study research design, this research descriptively explores the relationship between trends in food aid, trade, production and food security. The study finds that the relationship between food trade and aid with food security is mixed in Kenya. Aid and trade have not strongly enhanced food security in Kenya, but food insecurity in Kenya has not gotten markedly worse.

糧食安全援助與非營利組織之研究 / The International Organizations the same as the non-profit organizations are aware of how much this issue matter around the world and the government from the different more vulnerable countries represent in many cases, the principal problem that difficulties the work of the non-profit sector. There is a clear need to build a new system strategy for each bloc according to their characteristics in order to apply the correct plan for ensuring the food access for all the people as equals, but there is no doubt that the income inequality is a social issue that affects every country in the world and that also bring consequences for the food security of the people in countries such as Haiti. This topic was selected for its importance worldwide, in order to analyze the type of work of the non-profit organizations in the food security sector as aid channels in Latin American and the Caribbean regions, and how their partnership with government agencies and international organizations is indispensable for the complementation of the work. And the research finding of the two cases study is about the capacity of sustainability that the farmers of the countries can reach through the aid for food security provided by the non-profit organizations, and on the other hand, the dependency that the aid provided can cause in the donors (in the case of Haiti). The potential that both regions have to improve the food security and develop the agricultural sector, but also explaining the case of the most poor countries in each region (Nicaragua and Haiti), both cases study serve to compare the different activities of the NPO and how their work affect the sustainability and development of the beneficiaries in the field of food security.

Master of Science / Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics, and Health / Brian L. Lindshield / Fortified-blended foods (FBFs), grain-legume porridges (most commonly corn and soy), are frequently used for food aid purposes. Sorghum and cowpea have been suggested as alternative FBF commodities because they are drought-tolerant, grown locally in food aid receiving countries, and are not genetically modified. The objective of this thesis was to determine the protein quality and iron bioavailability of newly formulated, extruded FBFs in broiler chickens, which have been suggested as a good model for assessing iron bioavailability. Five FBFs were formulated to contain whey or soy protein to compare protein quality, sugar, oil, and an improved micronutrient premix. These included three white sorghum-cowpea FBFs; two were extruded with either whey protein concentrate (WSC) or soy protein isolate (WSC+SPI) added, one was non-extruded (N-WSC). Two others were white sorghum-soy (WSS) and corn-soy (CSB14) FBFs. Two additional white-sorghum cowpea FBFs were reformulated and “over-processed” to contain no sugar, less whey (O-WSC) or soy protein (O-WSC+SPI), and less oil, thus producing a less expensive FBF. Two studies were performed using prepared (Prep) or dry (Dry) FBFs, along with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) corn and soy blend FBF, CSB+, fed to chickens for 3 and 2 weeks, respectively; food intake, body weights, hemoglobin, and hepatic iron were assessed. In the Prep study, new FBFs significantly increased caloric and protein efficiency compared to CSB+, despite similar food intake and body weight gain. In the Dry study, CSB+ significantly decreased food intake and caloric efficiency, with the exception of O-WSC+SPI, and nonsignificantly reduced body weight gain and protein efficiency compared to new FBFs. CSB+ significantly reduced hepatic iron content compared to all FBFs in the Dry study, and was nonsignificantly decreased compared to new FBFs in the Prep study. In conclusion, sorghum and cowpea FBFs performed similarly to corn and soy FBFs, suggesting these commodities are suitable replacements for corn and soy. Soy protein isolate (WSC+SPI) was an effective alternative to whey protein concentrate (WSC), suggesting SPI can be a less expensive protein supplement in FBFs. Surprisingly, non-extruded sorghum and cowpea (N-WSC) was equally efficacious to extruded WSC. However, N-WSC did not meet viscosity requirements and is not precooked, which limits its viability as an FBF. O-WSC+SPI resulted in poorer outcomes compared to other FBFs, which suggests the protein quality of cowpea may be inferior and the inclusion of whey protein is needed in this formulation, as O-WSC with whey performed similarly to other FBFs. Overall, new FBFs, with the exception of O-WSC+SPI, resulted in improved food efficiency and hepatic iron outcomes compared to CSB+, suggesting they are of higher nutritional quality. However, further research is needed to refine and identify the best FBF formulations.

This paper addresses how food systems and transboundary food supply chains are mediated and shaped by (cross-) cultural and geopolitical borders that function as selective filters. We focus on the ways in which the political boundary in a formerly cohesive foodshed generates "edge effects" that affect (1) food safety, and (2) food waste, particularly in desert communities adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border. We hypothesize that as these various boundary lines get "out of register" with one another, their dissonance creates both unexpected impacts as well as opportunities for positive change. This initial analysis demonstrates how multiple (and often permeable) social, economic, and ecological edges intersect with food supply chain vulnerabilities and economic opportunities at the border. Drawing on examples from food safety and food waste surrounding the "Ambos Nogales" port of entry on the Arizona-Sonora border, we document the ways in which the border produces ecological and social edge effects that are dissonant with the official legal boundary.

This thesis contains three essays on topics in agricultural economics. Essays one and two share a focus on international trade and economic development, and essays two and three apply dynamic tools to agricultural economic policy issues.<p>Essay one analyses trade-related implications of a developing country's decision to adopt genetically-modified crop technology. A fixed-proportions model is constructed that evaluates the welfare implications of a range of adoption policies and export market responses. The model in this essay illustrates the importance of the prospective adopter formulating a projection of probable export market effects before making an adoption decision and of the role that high transaction costs may play in a developing country's adoption decision. The model also considers the effects of a new policy tool; a check-off style levy on genetically-modified technology in place of a technology-use agreement. A levy could be useful tool in developing countries, which are characterised by high transaction costs. <p>Essay two models the effects of emergency food aid on a recipient country's agricultural industry. This essay formulates a definition of needed aid in the context of a food emergency and constructs an optimal control model that solves a path of aid shipments that best meets that need. The effects of a range of food aid paths on recipient-country agricultural production are illustrated through numerical simulations. There are two key results. First, a non-optimal amount of aid can hinder a recipient-country's recovery from an exogenous food shock. Second, an exogenous shock can affect farmer revenue and therefore impact planting decisions. This effect must be considered in aid allocation policies. <p>Essay three uses time-series econometric techniques to develop a demand model that assesses the effectiveness of commodity advertising. This essay describes the importance of considering long-run and dynamic effects in demand systems, especially in the case of closely substitutable commodities. A demand system that tests for and accommodates dynamic and time-series properties is developed and applied to US meat data. The results of this model are compared to a traditional static demand system. The dynamic model produces econometrically and theoretically sound results and generates some more intuitively appealing estimates.

This thesis contains three essays on topics in agricultural economics. Essays one and two share a focus on international trade and economic development, and essays two and three apply dynamic tools to agricultural economic policy issues.<p>Essay one analyses trade-related implications of a developing country's decision to adopt genetically-modified crop technology. A fixed-proportions model is constructed that evaluates the welfare implications of a range of adoption policies and export market responses. The model in this essay illustrates the importance of the prospective adopter formulating a projection of probable export market effects before making an adoption decision and of the role that high transaction costs may play in a developing country's adoption decision. The model also considers the effects of a new policy tool; a check-off style levy on genetically-modified technology in place of a technology-use agreement. A levy could be useful tool in developing countries, which are characterised by high transaction costs. <p>Essay two models the effects of emergency food aid on a recipient country's agricultural industry. This essay formulates a definition of needed aid in the context of a food emergency and constructs an optimal control model that solves a path of aid shipments that best meets that need. The effects of a range of food aid paths on recipient-country agricultural production are illustrated through numerical simulations. There are two key results. First, a non-optimal amount of aid can hinder a recipient-country's recovery from an exogenous food shock. Second, an exogenous shock can affect farmer revenue and therefore impact planting decisions. This effect must be considered in aid allocation policies. <p>Essay three uses time-series econometric techniques to develop a demand model that assesses the effectiveness of commodity advertising. This essay describes the importance of considering long-run and dynamic effects in demand systems, especially in the case of closely substitutable commodities. A demand system that tests for and accommodates dynamic and time-series properties is developed and applied to US meat data. The results of this model are compared to a traditional static demand system. The dynamic model produces econometrically and theoretically sound results and generates some more intuitively appealing estimates.

This thesis investigates the affect of non-emergency food aid on producer prices and production quantities for cereal grains within the recipient country’s economy. The decision to evaluate developmental or non-emergency food aid (NEFA) stems from a lack of research on a macro scale of disaggregated food aid categories and their implications on developing country producers. The Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region is the world’s largest recipient of direct transfer non-emergency food aid leaving the region most susceptible to the ambiguous affects of these food aid allocations. The results for this research suggests that not only are there no detectable disincentive effects but that there is little explanatory power from non-emergency food aid based on the 12 sample countries within the region. Additionally, an estimation of NEFA’s relationship with imports suggests that rather then an addition to total supply, the international trade composition is flexible.

The world faces many complex and difficult problems at the global level – problems that are increasingly recognised as requiring political as much as technical solutions. While such issues are often taken to concern, in broad terms, global governance, more specifically, the political aspects of such governance are fundamentally linked to interactions between the United Nations system and the power exercised by the United States of America (US). One important and distinctive arena within which these interactions can be viewed is the international food aid regime, and its central organisation, the World Food Programme (WFP) - an area lacking in concerted political science study in recent years. This thesis is concerned with the role of the US in shaping the legitimacy of the WFP within the institutional context of the international food aid regime. Legitimacy is defined as deriving from the three elements of inclusion, accountability and effectiveness. The WFP and international regime are, it is argued, well respected, relatively effective, and enjoy high levels of legitimacy. At a micro level there are many specific historical and localised factors resulting in this legitimacy; at the macro level many of these factors can be linked to the interaction of norms and interests between the US and the regime. / In particular, the regime’s development and success has been closely related to both a congruence between the US domestic feed-the-hungry norm and the regime’s international feed-the-hungry norm, and a process of divergence between those norms. It is this normative interplay that has enabled US power to be deployed and constrained in a manner resulting in high levels of legitimacy for the WFP. While in many respects this has limited WFP’s capacity to do more with the problem of global hunger than merely ameliorate it, the nature of the problem is much bigger than the capacities of any single operational agency of the United Nations.

Thesis--Technische Universität Berlin, 1972.

How does respect for human rights affect the disbursement of food aid by US foreign policymakers? Scholars analyzing foreign aid generally look at only total economic aid, military aid or a combination of both. However, for a more nuanced understanding of human rights as a determinant of foreign aid, the discrete foreign aid programs must be examined. By disentangling component-programs from total aid, this analysis demonstrates how human rights influence policymakers by allowing them to distribute food aid to human rights abusing countries. Consequently, policymakers can promote strategic objectives with food aid, while legally restricted from distributing other aid. The primary theoretical argument, which links increasing human rights abuse with increasing food aid, is supported by results from a Heckman model. This procedure models the two-stage decision-making process where foreign policymakers first, select countries for aid and then, distribute aid to those selected.