Melchett,
LOA cut certainly isn't across the board - ours has been slightly adjusted to take into account currency changes recently but otherwise it's been pretty constant.
As far as a lack of volunteers goes, often a lot of people love the idea of loan/exchange posts, but when they (and more importantly the family) do a bit more research they find out that it doesn't work as well for them as they'd hoped.
That said, I agree with BV - we're having a great time and wouldn't swap it for the world. If people go overseas and try to live their UK lifestyle they don't seem to enjoy it, if you embrace the culture and climate that you're going to you'll have fun wherever you go. Some people could be miserable on a tropical island!