Despite tons of food aid pouring into less-developed countries around the world, hunger persists -- partly because donating grain alone does not stop the problems underlying widespread starvation.

According to the United Nations World Food Program Web site, using food aid more sparingly and strategically is a better option than dumping grain surpluses into third world countries.

The Fault of Food as Aid

Giving food directly to jobless mothers, school children, landless farmers and HIV orphans instead of governments, according to the Web site, is the way to go.

The U.N. program's strategy for combatting world hunger also includes a strong emphasis on developing the skills necessary to produce food and build an economy at home instead of relying on foreign donations.

In parts of the world where sudden disasters create immediate hunger crises, some organizations have criticized donor governments for inappropriately handling the food emergencies.

After the massive tsunami devastated coastal regions of India, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia in 2004, the World Food Program reported that 2 million people would need emergency food aid.

According to a document from Oxfam, a private famine relief agency, the U.S. government announced it would ship 30,000 tons of food, despite the presence of a rice surplus in the Southeast Asia region.

Financing Food to be Bought Locally

Oxfam contends that instead of food, countries like the U.S. should have sent cash instead to buy food locally, which would have stimulated the regions economy and reduced the time it took for aid to reach the tsunami refugees.

In October, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations held a conference in Rome to address the progress of the U.N.'s goal of ending hunger by 2015.

Jacques Diouf, the director-general of the U.N. organization, said in a conference-related press release that reducing hunger was not in the hands of international donors, but the private sector and individual countries.

“Having civil society and non-governmental organizations with us is indispensable if we are to succeed,” Diouf said in the release.