Monday, October 01, 2012

Half of Yemen is hungry says the WFP

Political instability is to blame for a large precentage of malnurtrition in Yemen. Almost half of all the Yemeni people go hungry according to a new report from the World Food Programme.

The instability began with a revolt against the leadership of Ali Abdullah Saleh a year ago. Saleh still clings to power but it is a weak, as factions of Islamists control outlying parts of the country.

From Reuters Alert Net, writer Andrew Hammond interviewed a spokesman of the World Food Programme about the situation in Yemen.
Forced to import most of its food needs because of a paucity of arable land, Yemen has also suffered from a rise in global food and fuel prices, WFP spokesman Barry Came told Reuters.
"Five million people, or 22 percent of the population, can't feed themselves or buy enough to feed themselves ... These are mostly landless labourers, so they don't grow their own food, and with high food prices they can't buy it either," said Came.
"In addition, there is another five million who are being really hard hit by high food prices and on the edge of being food insecure. So 10 million people in this country go to bed hungry every night."
The number of people receiving daily WFP food rations has risen from 1.2 million in January to over 3.8 million, but poor infrastructure and fear of kidnappings by tribes have complicated the logistics of providing food aid.
"They are really hit by fuel and food price rises ... but there's also political instability, conflict, terrorist activity and huge population displacement," he said. "Without political security and stability you can't solve the problem."

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