ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the formulation and management of European food aid policy and programmes. The United States has used food aid as a major instrument to pursue its foreign policy goals, from its early use in lend-lease programmes, during the Marshall Plan period in Europe and with PL480 being given to over 130 developing countries. Community food aid policy in 1974 had three broad categories for its operations, emergency assistance, nutritional objectives and operations for development. The emergency assistance focused upon the Sahel countries, victims of the Nigerian Civil War and Bengali refugees of the war between India and Pakistan. Nutritional operations were mainly through the United Nations Relief Works Administration to Palestine refugees. Operations for development were aimed at foreign exchange savings from food aid imports, and where the aid was sold on their national markets, providing counterpart funds for the financing of development projects.
