ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(76)452
Vol.1976/0138

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
\
COM(76)452 final.
/
Brussels,14September1976*
COMMUNICATION FROMTEECOMMISSION TOTHECOUNCIL
3TEARINDICATIVE FOODAIDPROGRAMME,1977-1979.
CCiî(76)452final«
I

3YEAR INDICATIVE FOOD AIDPROGRAMME ,1977-1979
Communication from theCommission tothe Council
SCOPE AM )PURPOSE OPTHECOMMUNICATION
1. Bythedecision oftheCouncil of9June 1976 theCommunity has
adopted theconcept ofmedium term planning ofitsfood aid ,medium term
being specifically defined asaperiod ofthree years ,asoriginally
suggested intheCommission 'sMemorandum onFood AidPolicy oftheEuropean
Economic Community ofMarch 1974^^•
2. Ithasalso been agreed that inorder tominimise thedistorting
effects ofseasonal price changes onfood aidavailabilities ,amedium
term food aidprogramme must beexpressed inquantitative terms ,and
that inorder toallow some flexibility indealing with annual variations
insupplies andrequirements ,such aprogramme should beformulated in
(9)
terms ofaquantity bracket foreach product supplied •
3. TheCommission hasbeen requested tomake specific proposals tothis
effect .Theobject ofthepresent communication istopropose theadoption
ofthefirst 3Year Indicative Food AidProgramme oftheCommunity f ■hence­
forth referred toastheProgramme ,covering the1977-1979 period ,and
taking effect asfrom 1977•Thesubsequent ,programmes will beformulated at
three-yearly intervals ,well inadvance ofbecoming operational ,soasto
provide developing countries asawhole with anadequate notice ofthe
Community intentions forthefollowing three years®
GENERAL FEATURES OFTHE PROPOSAL
4. Theforward planning offood aidisclosely linked tothequestion
oftheoverall size offood aidplanned ?and ,insofarastheProgramme
istoapply toCommunity actions alone ,itislinked also totheproblem
' '1■"
(1)C0M(74)300 final
(2)Even though ,because ofthecurrent budgetary constraints ,only the
programme drawn upannually would constitute firm commitments forthe
Community .

ofdistribution offood aid incereals between national andCommunity
actions .Consequently ,attention hashadto "begiven tothese three inter­
related aspects ,andtheresult isapackage solution outlined "below .
5« InitsMemorandum ofMarch 1974 »theCommission proposed anincrease
intheoverall volume offood aidoftheCommunity ,butthis suggestion ,
though supported bytheParliament ,andbyanumber ofMember states ,has
not sofarmetwith theapproval oftheCouncil asawhole .Nevertheless ,
itremains theview oftheCommission that theProgramme must provide
forsome increase inthecurrent food aideffort oftheCommunity ,
particularly inthecase ofcereals .
6. Under nocircum stances should theproposed Programme becapable
ofinterpretation asavehicle forgenerating agricultural surpluses within
theCommunity .TheCommunity ^food aid,even ifraised above present
levels ,should therefore continue tobemarginal inrelation to
agricultural produotion andavailable supplies oftheCommunity *
7« Inacoepting theconcept ofmedium term planning offood aid ,the
Council drew 'adistinction between overall planning ,concerned with
setting ofindicative targets attheworld level ,andspecific plannin ,?.
1
forindividual organizations andclearly defined projects inBorne
countriesl^^he present paper treats fheformer aspeot only.Additional
proposals forspecifio targets will bemade later this year ,atthetime
ofthepresentation ofannual programmes for1977 *Infuture years ,both
theoverall andspeoific programmes will beprepared simultaneously .
SIZE AND NATURE OPTHE PROGRAMME
8.Inthelight ofthepreceding considerations ,theCommission proposest
-first ,theacceptance ofageneral prinoiple that onnoaccount should the
volume oftheCommunity 'sfood aidduring thelife oftheProgramme fall
below thevolume offered in1976^1 and
-seoondly ,theadoption oftheProgramme ,thesize andcommodity composition
ofwhioh aresummarized below ,
(1)Seo.Doc.S/958/76(OCD23Relex 19)10June 1976-
(2)I.e.1,287,000 tforoereals ,150,000 tforskimmilkpowder ,and
45»000tforbutteroil «

3
3YearIndicative FoodAidProgramme1977-79
Products Minimum,Annual MaximumAnnual 1976Figure
Targets^■'Tona Target3
Cereals 1,650,000^^2,500,000 1,287,000
ofwhichCom­
munityactions1,077,000-1,350,000 708,000
SkimMilkPowder^3'150,000 175.000 150,000
Butteroil'3'45,000 65,000 45,000
9.Thecommoditycomposition ofthenextProgrammedifferssomewhat
fromthatsuggestedinthe1974Memoranduminsofarassugarand"other
products"arenolongerpartoftheProgramme.Thisisnowconfinedto
cereals,skimmilkpowderandbutteroil,i.e.three "basicfoodproductswith
alongexperienceofsubstantial foodaid,andexpectedtocontinuemeetinga
majorpartoffoodneedsofthedevelopingcountriesalsointhefuture.
10.TheCommissionfurtherproposesthatforallthreeproducts,only
theminimumrangetargetsheadoptedasfirmsupplycommitmentsfor1977.
Thismeansthatincomparisonwiththeactual1976tonnage,therewould
benochangeinskimmilkpowderandbutteroilnextyear,theincrease
involumebeingreservedforcerealsonly.
11.AsregardsthetworemainingyearsoftheProgramme,decisions
concerningthesizeofthefirmcommitmentswithintherangeforeach
productwouldbetakenintheimmediatelyprecedingyears,i.e.in1977as
regards1978,andin1978for1979*Ifnecessary,theinitial(1977)targets
couldthenbemovedupwardswithintherange.
12.Inconformitywiththeprinciplementionedinpara6above,the
quantitiesproposedbothasminimumandmaximumtargetsarerelatively
smallcomparedtoproduction,asshowninAnnexTable4»Apossible
exceptionisskimmilkpowder(7.7$in1977)*In"thelattercase,however,
onemusttakeaccountoftheexistingverylargestocks*
••/••
(1)TheseminimumtargetscorrespondtofiguresproposedbytheCommissionin
thedraftbudgetfor1977(seeAnnexTable4)•
(2)For1977»theexactfigureinthecaseofcerealswouldbe1,643,500tons
ofwhich1,077,000tonsfortheCommunityactionsasintheFirstdraft
Budgetfor1977.
(3)Communityactionsonlyasatpresent*

13. Thecost oftheProgramme asproposed for1977 would amount to j
273 Muc.This falls short ofthefigure proposed inthedraft budget for
1977 (i.e. 303«75 Muc)which also included sugar (forUNRWA ),"other products ",
and "other expenditure ",notcounted inthepresent proposal (seeAnnex
Table 5)»though proposed forinclusion inannual programmes .
CEREALS
14. TheProgramme 'sproposed indicative range forcereals isclose
tothat originally suggested intheCommission 'sMemorandum ,which atthe
time wasendorsed byanumber ofMember states# Theproposed minimum target
figure for1977 exceeds by356,500 tons thetotal volume ofcereals currently
given bytheCommunity anditsMember states under theterms ofthePood Aid
Convention (SeeAnnex Table l).This increment wasoriginally proposed inMarch
1975 (doc.fy/473/75(COMER 8l)Relex 15)asaminimum additional contribution
bytheCommunity ,necessary tomatch theefforts ofother donors towards the
achievement oftheworld food aidtarget of10million tons ,setbytheWorld
Food Conference inNovember 1974 *
15. TheCommission maintains itsproposal foranintensified food aid
effort incereals ,advancing thefollowing reasons .First ,thefood aidneeds
ofthedeveloping countries have certainly notdeclined since 1974 «Onthe
contrary ,they arebound toincrease before thecurrently contemplated special
measures toraise food production -e.g. IFAD -begin toyield first results .
Thus ,therecent studies onthesubject suggest that thecereal import requi­
rements ofthepoorest developing countries asawhole mayrise from 19m.t.
in1972-74 to50m.t.in1985^^.Moreover ,thepotential netcereal deficit
ofallthedeveloping countries in1985 estimated byFAOatthetime ofthe
World FoodConference tobeoftheorder of80m.t.^^maywellprove tobe
anunderestimate .According tothelatest findings ^adeficit of100m.t.
"could well prove conservative ".Infact ,ifthemore recent trend incereal
production ofthedeveloping countries ^isused asabasis ofprojection ,
thecereal deficit ofthedeveloping countries asawhole mayreach the
(5)staggering total of200m.t.p.a.by1985 .
••/••
(1)World Food Council ,WFC/16,8March 1976 ,Annex II.
(2)Andbased onprojection oftheproduction trend of1960-74 ,anaverage
increase of2.5 7°p.a.to1985 .
(3)%theauthoritative International Food Policy Research Institute ,
Research Report W°1,Feb.1976 ,Meeting Food Needs intheDeveloping World .
(4)E.g.thetrend over the1967-74 period ,averaging anincrease ofonly
1.7%.
(5)Ibid ,para 3,page 2.These figures donotinanysense represent predictions
ortargets ,butmerely extrapolation ofthepast production trends .Onthe
other hand ,even with therecord harvests of1975 »thetrend offood produc­
tion indeveloping countries from 1970 isbelow theaverage growth rate of
thesixties andfarbelow thegrowth infood demand .

5.
16. Moreover ,theCommunity alone among themajor donors hasnot so
farresponded tothecall oftheWorld Food Conference foranincrease in
food aid incereals .This hasbeen noted and criticised invarious inter­
national fora .
17. Finally ,aproposed increase incereal aid ,ifoffered inthe
wake oftherecent decision togrant 200,000 tons ofskim milk powder as
food aid ,would help tocorrect awidely held notion that ,contrary tothe
claims ofitsvarious spokesmen ,theCommunity 'sfood aidpolicy is
motivated primarily bythesurplus disposal considerations , ,andnotbythe
real needs ofthedeveloping countries .
18. Itisfurther proposed that theincrease of356,500 tons inthe
prwsent volume ofcereal aidoffered bytheCommunity anditsMember states
in1977 ?should becounted outside theFood ,AidConvention ^,andthat
itshould take theform ofCommunity actions only .In1977 »national
actions would remain atthelevels recently agreed inthecontext ofthe
extension oftheFood AidConvention ,i.e. 566,500 tons .
19. Asregards thetwosubsequent years oftheProgramme (1978 and1979 )
theCommission proposes anapproach which would notonly resolve the
question oftheactual size ofthefirst Programme ,butwould also settle
thelong standing issue ofnational versus Community actions incereals .
20. This problem hasinthepast been dealt with onanadhocbasis ,
inarather unsatisfactory manner ,usually asaby-product ofdiscussions
relating totheextension oftheFood AidConvention ortothedifficulties
wm–mm ••/**
(l)Atleast 1during thenext twoyears oftherecently extended Convention *

facing particular Member states inthis connection .Theresults obtained
have often been inthenature oflast minute compromises imposed onthe
Community bythetime limit setforthesignature oftheConvention rather
than based on objective analysis ofthemerits ofthe case .
21. Toremove uncertainty attached tothis procedure ,andtoreconcile
theopposing views onthesubject ,theCommission proposes fortheyears
1973 and1979 ameasure allowing forboth further "communitarization "
ofnational actions incereals ,which itconsiders desirable forpolitical
reasons andonthegrounds ofgreater efficacity offood aidoperations ,
andfull safeguards fortheinterests ofthose Member states which are
known toattach aparticular importance totheir national actions .
22. This solution opens uparange ofpossible outcomes .Atone
extreme ,theyears 1978 and1979 could conceivably witness full "communi -
tarization "ofcereal actions .Atanother extreme ,thesituation might
follow thepattern ofthepast ,whereby theproportion ofCommunity actions
increased byafewpercentage points each year orless asin1976 >while
meeting thegrowing resistance oftheproponents ofnational actions .
23.Thedesi^ble outcome intheviewoftheCommission liesinbetween
these twoextremes *theultimate size oftheCommunity actions in197$ and1979
over andabove theproposed initial(l977 )volume ofly077*000 tons depending on
*•/*•
(l)Such astheremoval ofdelays inpreparation andimplementation ofannual
programmes ,better co-ordination offood aiddeliveries ,greater coherenoe
inallocating food aidamong countries andinstitutions ,andamora
rational selection ofthesource andnature ofparticular cereals within
theCommunity .
Y

thedegreeofimportanoeattaohedByeachMemberstatetoitsownnational
actionsandontheirfreedomandwillingnesstoconvertnationalinto
Communityactions*
24*TheCommissionconsidersthatin1978thenationalactionsoftheMember
statescouldbehalvedintheirtotalityandformostMemberstates,while
remainingatthepresentlevelsforonlyafewMemberstates,shouldthey
sodesire*
25*Ejy1979»afurtherstepinthesamedirectioncouldtakeplace*This
wouldallowfordifferentdegreesoffurther"communitarization ",whileleaving
thehardcoreofnationalactionsastheyareatpresent*
SKIMMILKPOWDER
26*Apartfromthelargeneedsfordirectconsumptioninmanydeveloping
countries,thecaseforincreasingfoodaidinskimmilkpowder,orfor
maintainingitatleastatthe1976levelof150,000tonsp*a*,restsonthe
factthatanassured,highleveloffoodaidinthatproductisoftena
pre-condition forsecuringothernecessaryinvestmentsinthedairyindustry
itselfandintherelatedinfrastructure ,suchasthelocalcollectionand
distribution system,qualitycontrol,construction offeederroads,retail
outlets,etc****
27*Inthesecircumstances ,foodaidinskimmilkpowdercanbeextremely
usefulnotonlyinmeetingimmediateconsumptionrequirements ,whichis
theprincipalobjectiveofallfoodaid,andasadevelopmentresourceof

8.
» è
some importance initself ,butalso asacatalytic agent stimulating awide range
ofassociated development activities andinvestments •Itisacase ofsupply
creating notonly itsowndemand butalso contributing tomaintain itsubsequently ,
after thecessation offood aid intheyears tocome#
(2)28. Moreover ,with thehigh productive capacity voftheEuropean dairy indus­
tryand inview oftheskim milk powder stocks inEurope which arecurrently of
theorder of1.3million tons ,food aidinthat product isnotascostly asit
might otherwise appear ,simply because thealternative measures ofsatisfactorily
dealing with unsaleable supplies ,such asutilization ofdried skim milk in
livestock feeding ,indefinite stocking etc,.., have their costs too.
Forthat reason ,food aidwhile being ofunquestionable benefit tothe
recipient countries should notberegarded asasimple actofcharity ,andthis
should notbeoverlooked when considering thedesiraMe size offood aidinskim
milk powder intheexisting circumstances .
30. Theindicative range selected forskim milk powder inthecontext ofthe
present proposal represents asrealistic anassessment aspossible ofboth the
absorptive capacity ofthedeveloping oountries ,based ontheexperience gained
inthepreparation oftheenlarged 1976 programme ,andthelikely availability
within theCommunity ofskim milk powder supplies during the1977-79 period#
Thelower limit oftherange corresponds tothetonnage offered aefood aidin
1976 .Itfalls Bhort oftherequests received andisfarbelow thepeak level ,
reached intheearly 60*s ,when world skim milk aidshipments averaged 250,000
tons p.a .
••/•»•
(1)Asdemonstrated inInternational
Development ,sponsored byPA0 in
(2)Which isdifferent from that for
anet importer .Scheme fortheCoordination ofDairy
reoent years .
oerealB asawhole ,where theEEGremainB

9.
BUTTEROIL
21.Theindicativetargetfiguresforbutteroilrepresentsa
conservative estimateoftheabsorptiveconsumptioncapacityofthe
developingcountries,andofthetechnicalpossibilities oftheEurope-
industrytotransformbutterintobutteroil.Thesizeoftheproposed
rangeisthesameasoriginallygivenintheMemorandum.Itmeansthe
continuation ofthesamefoodaidtonnageasthatofferedin1976.

'AUTIEX
TABLE1
PROPOSEDPRODUCTRANGEFORCEREALS,1977-1979
1977Total 1,643,500t
(1)•Community 1,077»000tv
Memberstates 566,500t
1978Total 1,650,000t
. .(2)Community 1,214,550 »
Memberstates 435,450t
3979Total 1,650,000t
...■.(2)
Community 1,308,550t*
Memberstates 341,450t
(1)356,500toutsideConventionjthisfigurerepresentsthedifference
between643,500tons(Community'scontributionunderPACfor1974/75)an<*
1milliontonsrecommendedtotheCouncilinMarch1975*
(2)363,000toutsideConvention(smallincreaseforroundingoffpurposes)#

ABHEX
TABLE2
PRODUCTION OPCERTAINPOODCOIHTODITIES INTHESECCOMPAREDWITHVOLUMEOPESCFOODAID
CommodityPRODUCTIONPoodaidgrantedin
1975andfoof1975
productionPoodaidproposedfor
1977and%of1975
production1973 1974 1975
CEREALS 105.954108.226 97,084 1,287 1,643.5
1.7% 1.3%
IofwhichWHEAT 41,451 45,388 38,115
SKIMMILKP0WDER 1,734 1,757 1,935 55 150
2.8% 7.7%
BUTTER^' 1,742 1,603 1,659 55 55
3.3% ■13.3%
(1)55,000tof"butter,or-45,000tbutteroil
(2)ForthesecommoditiesCommunitystocksonl/9/75amountedto:
.997,242tonsformilkpowder
•265,468tonsforbutter
Source:EUROSTAT-STATISTIQUES AGRICOLES3/1976

_TABL2.3
AVAîi'r-PHO.TZrr HITTIÂLDSBUSGËTT97?-CHAPITRE92"AIDSAlZZZtrXIdx"
ART.POSTE DiTITOLE QUANTITES
TpaixMONDIAUX
:hATIERSPRZZÎZ-cS
ET,COUTTRANSPORT
uc/tTOTAL
MUCCREDITSA
HHCRIBB
MUC
920 AideAlimentaire encéréales
9200–Programmesantérieursà1977– i5,oo 5,oo
9201–Programme1977
Matièrepremière:1.077.000(l)
dont:1.027.000tsousformedecéréales
autresqueriz
50.000tsousformede25.000tderiz
décortiquérond1.027.000
25.000|121
I
233124,27
5,83156,50
Transport 600.000 44 26,40
921 AideAlinenipireenproduitslaitiersi
1
1 I
9210–Programmesantérieursà1977|P.m.
9211–Programmelaitécréméenpoudre1977
Matièrepremière
Transport150.000
110.000271,2
1651
t
!40,70
;18,15 58,85
9212–ProgrammeButteroil1977
Matièrepremière
Trar.soort.000
.0005
531.153
180I
51,89
s6,3058.19
922 AideAlimentaire enSucre
9221–Programnesantérieursà1977 p.m.
9222–Programme1977
Matièrepremière
Transport10.000
10.000325
963,25
0,96 4,21
923 AideAlimentaire enautresproduitsj20,00 20,00
924 Autresdépenses 1,00 1,00
I TOTALDUCHAPITRE92303,75
(l)Dont720.500tonr.esautitredelaConventiond'AideAlimentaire(55?93i»de1.287-000tonnes)
tonneseux*labasedLixMémorandum denarsX974-

3TEARINDICATIVE FOODAIDPROGRAMME.1977-79
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
(Financialyears:1977t1978»1979)
A.INTERVENTION APPROPRIATIONS
1.RELEVANTBODGETHEADINGS
920,921
2.TITLESOFRELEVANTHEADINGS
920:Foodaidincereals
921*Foodaidinmilkproducts
3.LEGALBASIS
Cerealst3.971Foodaidconvention
Milkproducts:EECTreaty,arts#43and113
CouncilRegulation804/68
ForwardplanningtCouncilDecisionof9«6«1976(s/958/76(GCD23)
Relex19)
4.DESCRIPTION PURPOSESANDJUSTIFICATION OFACTION
Implementation forthethreeyears1977-79of'thedecisionon
forwardplanningoffoodaid,including
-thed'fcermination ofthetotalsizeofCommunityaidincereals,
skimailkpowderandbutteroilforthethreeyearperiod,
<-theallocationofcerealsaidbetweenCommunityandMemberstates*
5.APPROIi'IATIQNS
Anr.^alBreakdown1Mua
/197719782222
ï/jumum 273290310
axinrum 429 450465
Detailsaregivenintheattachedtable*
-MethodofCalculation
,InlinewiththeCouncil*sstatement,theprogrammehasbeen
'expressedintermsofquantitative ranges.Thebudgetaryevaluation
hasbeenworkedoutatoonstantprices(thoseusedfor1977budget
forecasts)}inviewofdoubtssurroundingthefuturetrendsof
/worldagriculturalprices,noattempthasbeenmadetoforecast
••/••

actualpricesfor197°-79*The1976pricesusedarebasedonESCinternal
prices,lessexportrefunds,plusdeliverytofobstageand,fora
certainproportion,transportanddistribution costs*
6.FLAMEDCONTROLSYSTEM
Financialregulationdated25»4«73forthegeneralbudgetoftheCommu­
nities.
ADDiTIOTTAL INFORMATION
7*TOTALCOSTOVERPLANNEDPERIOD
(seepoint5)
8.PERSONNELAM)ADMINISTRAT ITSAPPROPRIATIONS REQUIREDFORBFLEKEKTATION
Implementation willforthetimebeingbecarriedoutbyexistingstaff#
9.FINANCING ?
TheprogrammewillbefinancedfromthegeneralbudgetoftheCommunities.

riPICATPre PROORAH'E FOREECFOODAID
EVALUATION FCRFEIAirCIAL YEARS1977-1979
1977 1978 1979
Et Liua Kt Mua Mt Lîna
A.mH-TOITARGETS
Cereals
SkiraI'ilkPowder
Butteroil
Total
B.I-IAXITIUKTARGETS
Cereals
SkimMilkPowder
Butteroil
Total1077
150
45156
59
581215
150
45173
59
58(1280or
(1309or
(1350
150
45186)
or193)
or196)
59
58
1934
175
65273
277
68
842065
175
65290
298
68
84(2130or
(2159or
(2200
3.75
65303or310or313
310)
or313)
or318)
68
84
429 450 462or465or470
(1).Theincreaseinappropriations forCommunityfoodaidover"theperiodistheresultofanassumedreductioninnationalcerealsactions(1977»566500t;1978|453450tj1979i351450t),
(2)Thesefigurescorrespondtothefirstdraftofthe1977budget.