Feeding themselves

The poor may be poor, but they are not stupid, certainly not any stupider than you and me. Here's an interesting note i found:

"You are absolutely correct that it is a mistake to define the main problem of the poor "as massive hunger, and hence the solution as providing food". But the optimum solution to tackle the cause of hunger is to give the poor and hungry that ultimate form of voucher: cash. Except in the rare cases of total market failure (like Darfur and North Korea), cash has huge advantages over food aid. Cash transfers are more than 50% cheaper to administer. They reduce the risk of dependency and disincentives; allow individual choice between consumption and investment; have multiplier effects on income and employment; stimulate markets by increasing purchasing power; and encourage the use of other social services such as health and education. That is why cash is predominantly used to help the poorest in OECD countries in the form of pensions, child benefits, disability grants and so on. Why not in developing countries too?"
by Nicholas Freeland, Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme, Johannesburg, in Economist, 12-04-08