Somalia has enough arable land to feed itself even in the worst drought, and in 1987, it actually exported food. Yet there is a famine in Somalia because free food, unloaded year after year at the docks of Mogadishu and in other African countries, has undermined local agriculture and self-sufficiency.

• Somali farmers were unable to sell their corn last year because the infusion of food from relief agencies was cutting demand and putting prices into a bottomless tumble.

• Rice in Somalia was said to be the lowest-priced in the world at $5 for a 110-pound bag - less than half the price in the United States.

Once there is a drought or a civil war in which the normal channels of food distribution are disrupted, there is likely to be a famine. This is true not only in Somalia, but also in many other African countries where free, nonemergency food is distributed. In most of the countries three principal relief agencies - CARE, Catholic Relief Services or World Vision - give away food in school feeding programs, mother-child health programs and food-for-work programs that involve mostly make-work projects.

These organizations get most of their food from the U.S. and Canadian governments and from the European Community. Farm price supports generate food surpluses, much of which are shipped abroad. For example, U.S. shipments are donated under the Food for Peace program started in the Eisenhower administration. As a result of surplus food shipments, Africa's per capita food production has decreased 20 percent since 1960.

Source: Tom Bethell, "Exporting Famine," American Spectator, December 1993.