Figure 1.-- After World War II, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) organized the sending of food products to the devastated countries. This photo shows the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary in Belgium distributing food to children from the parcels supplied by UNRRA, most of which came from the United States.

Belgium was a heavily industrialized country and as in World War I, was not self-suffucient in food before the War. This in World War II was a very dangerous sutiation. German policy was to require each occupied country to make do on their on which mean that countries dependent on imports were in serious trouble. The Germans set the rations low, but not genocidally low as they did for Jews and others in East, bit serious omadeqiate if not supplemented. There was not the same racuoal aniumus toward the Belgians, especially the Flemish. Ethnicity was a major factor in how the occupied people were treated. This the Belgians went hungry, but for the most part did not starve, like the Dutch. Most of the country was liberated (September 1944). Food shortaes continued as there were shortages of everything, includung farm equipment and supplies. There was also shortage of farm livestock, both work animals and livestock broodstiovk. This affected productioin. And it woulof take time to return to normal levels. Unlike the East, the Germans did not wreck the farm economy. The immediate post-war tears were difficullt, but he recovery was fairly rapid after the War. As the Eureopean economy began to recover, people returned to work and once noire had money to buy food. The realtively limited wae damage (perhaps 8 percent of national wealth) was low by World War II standards. And despite the political instability, the Belgians implemented an enligtened and vgirous national economic policy. Monetary reform and liberalization of the economy resulted in vigiorous economic recovery and the revival of markert mechanisms. This was in sharp contrast to the policies the British Labour (Soicialit) Party adopted resulting in a slow recovery and failure to achieve an economic miracle like the Germans and other continental partners. This greatly benefited Belgian farmers. The first few years after the War as in the rest of Western Europe were difficult, but domestic harvests were supplemented by energency relief agengecies like UNRAA amd private charities like CARE.