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."

WFP tries to return to Somalia despite threats and fines

Last year, the World Food Programme pulled out of southern Somalia because of violent threats made against its workers by the al Shabaab Islamic rebels. Now with a severe drought hitting the region, el Shabaab is willing to allow the WFP back in. Still, the WFP is unsure of workers safety and there are even claims that el Shabaab will levy a large fee against WFP for coming back in.

From Reuters Alert Net, writer Megan Rowling reports on this angle of drought striking the Horn of Africa.

A week ago, insurgent group al Shabaab said it was lifting a ban it had imposed on some humanitarian agencies supplying aid in areas it controls in the Horn of African nation, mainly in the south.

Many Somalis are increasingly struggling to survive the compounding stresses of conflict and worsening drought. Thousands are abandoning their homes and streaming across the Kenyan and Ethiopian borders, seeking refuge in overcrowded camps.

An al Shabaab spokesperson told journalists that all aid agencies, Muslim and non-Muslim – "whose objective is only humanitarian relief" – are now free to help drought-stricken Somalis, once they have contacted its drought committee.

WFP spokesperson Greg Barrow told AlertNet from Rome that the agency has since reached out to the rebel group via the U.N. humanitarian coordinator, but has yet to receive a response.

SAFETY GUARANTEES

The United Nations says some 2.85 million people in Somalia need emergency aid, and in the worst-hit areas one in three children is suffering from malnutrition.

But local analysts in Somalia told Reuters al Shabaab had lifted the aid ban in the south to generate money to fund its war effort. It has previously asked aid agencies to pay a hefty registration fee.

The international humanitarian community has welcomed the announcement with caution, saying the safety of aid workers must be assured.

"We are ready to scale up assistance in southern Somalia but need guarantees that humanitarian workers can operate safely and will not be taxed or targeted," U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said in a statement on Tuesday.

North Korea asks for more rice from other governments

It appears that North Korea may be suffering through another famine as it is asking for food aid from individual governments. This presents a big change for the isolated dictatorship for in the past they only relied on assistance from the World Food Programme.

From the Guardian, writer Julian Borger gives us more details on North Korea's change in asking for help.

The WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has begun a food needs assessment in North Korea, but the WFP said that last year it managed to raise only a fifth of the budget it needed for its North Korean aid programme.

That shortfall may be one of the reasons Pyongyang is trying a direct approach this year, observers said.

"This year, all 40 North Korean embassies have been ordered by Pyongyang to ask governments for food. They have each been given a quota," an Asian diplomat said.

Another Asian official said the order appears to have been given in December: "Kim Jong-il has told his embassies to get as much rice as possible."

In November the WFP and FAO warned that the majority of North Korea's population faced continued hunger this year after harvests were affected by unusually bad weather.
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North Korea has repeatedly been hit by famines in recent decades, particularly when bad weather has exacerbated the effects of inefficient collectivist farming practices and a shortage of mechanisation. The situation was particularly acute in the mid-1990s when between 600,000 and more than 2 million people are believed to have died.

More details on the Niger food crisis

Yesterday, we linked to a press release from Oxfam about the cutbacks in food distribution to the poeple of Niger. The World Food Programme has to now pick and choose which families receive food because of a lack of money. The WFP will only give food to families that have children younger than two years old. This cut back occurs as Niger is in the middle of a food crisis and the next harvest is still two months away.

From this IPS article, writer Ousseini Issa gives us more details on the lack of aid.

WFP aid will now only be distributed to families with children under the age of two, who will receive 50 kilogrammes of grain, less than is necessary for families of seven or more, according to information released by Oxfam, which distributes food for the WFP.

"This is an appalling situation," Oxfam Deputy Regional Director in West Africa Raphael Sindaye said. "We have known about this crisis for months and yet more than a million people in Niger will continue to starve over the coming weeks and perhaps months."

Through Oxfam alerted the international community to an impending regional famine as early as November of last year, Robert Bailey, Region Campaigns and Policy Manager in West Africa for Oxfam, said there was a sluggish response from donor nations.

"International systems didn’t invest enough in the response," Bailey said. "[Donors] didn’t step up until July, which is too slow. The money is just not available."

Under the new plan, about 60 percent of the affected population will be left to rely on aid from the Nigerien government, which Bailey said does not have the capacity to meet their needs.

"There are very little government resources available," Bailey said. "The logistic pipelines are just not there."

With the 2010 harvest still two months off, Niger is now at the peak of its food crisis, but Bailey said the WFP plans to double food rations in September in response to this month’s shortfall.

WFP forced to cut back on food aid in Niger

As Oxfam explains in the following press release, the World Food Programme has to pick and choose who receives food in famine riddled Niger. Only 60 percent of those who need food will get it from the WFP.

OXFAM is an international Non-Governmental Organization that operates advocacy, education and emergency assistance programs to help those in poverty.

WFP to prioritize children under age of two – 60% of people in dire need of aid may not receive adequate help

The World Food Program (WFP) in Niger, the country worst-hit by the West Africa food crisis, has been forced to make an “agonizing” decision to abandon plans to provide emergency food to families with children over the age of two because of a huge funding shortfall, says international agency Oxfam.

Only families with children under the age of two will receive food over the coming weeks and they will still only receive 50 kilograms of cereal, half the amount an average family of seven needs each month. The remaining 60 percent of the affected population will be left to depend on a woefully under-resourced government and aid groups. This news comes at the peak of the food crisis when there is still almost two months to go before the next harvest.

Oxfam, who works with the UN to provide food to families in Niger, has repeatedly called for donors to increase their funding to WFP and other aid agencies – but still not enough is being done, it says.

Raphael Sindaye, Oxfam Deputy Regional Director in West Africa said:

“No humanitarian agency should be forced into such an impossible position, especially one backed by the entire international community. WFP is being forced to make the heartbreaking decision to direct its limited resources only to families with children under two because it lacks the cash it needs to do the job.”
“Every day is a battle to find food”

Across the Sahel belt of West Africa drought and erratic rains have caused meager harvests and severe water shortages, forcing Niger, Mali and Chad to depend largely on international aid. More than 10 million people are affected by the crisis, seven million of those in Niger where hundreds of thousands of children face starvation.

Maria Ali, 50, and mother of 10 in a village near Zinder, Niger told Oxfam:

“We have no crops and no land of our own, and now we are very hungry. It's the hardest year I can remember. No one here has received any help. There is nothing we can do, we just pray that God will help us. We urge anyone, the government, the international organizations, to come to our aid. Every day is a battle to find food for my children.”

Fatima Husseini, 50, and mother of nine said:

“We have not received any help here, though I know other places have received something. But we are not jealous because we know that everybody needs aid. I urge anybody to come to help us.”

The WFP recently announced a much-needed scale up of its operations to reach almost eight million people in Niger with emergency food but limited resources and time have forced the agency to drastically scale back these plans by halting intended distributions to one million people with children over two. WFP is now prioritizing only 700,000 children under the age of two and their families.
7.9 million people affected in Niger

Sindaye said: "This is an appalling situation. We have known about this crisis for months and yet more than a million people in Niger will continue to starve over the coming weeks and perhaps months."

Oxfam said missing funds are urgently needed to buy essential trucks, open more storage space and ensure food actually reaches communities. The WFP has 42,000 tons of food available, but needs approximately double this to reach the full 7.9 million affected people in Niger.

Oxfam is working with partner organizations in some of the worst-affected areas of Niger, Chad and Mali providing cash vouchers, clean water and vaccinating livestock. The agency is also distributing food provided by WFP with its local partners.

Georgians could face a hungry winter

The war between Georgia and Russia displaced many people two years ago. Many of those forced out of their homes because of the war depended on food from the World Food Programme. Due to budget cuts, the WFP had to stop its food distributions for Georgia. Now the WFP is warning that the displaced people in Georgia will face a very hungry winter unless more money arrives or someone else steps in.

From this Eurasia.net post that we found at Transitions Online, writer Molly Corso tells us more about the food security situation in Georgia.

The “WFP is increasingly alarmed that the most vulnerable IDPs . . . will face a very bleak winter,” Huggins said in an e-mail interview with EurasiaNet.org. “Almost all IDPs live below the poverty line and more than 90 percent are dependent on external food aid.” Approximately 30,000 internally displaced persons from formerly Georgian-controlled strips of territory in breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been resettled in nearly 40 settlements since the 2008 war.

Seventy percent of that number received food aid from the WFP; the organization’s program was limited to IDP families who opted for government-provided housing. While many of these houses include small “kitchen gardens,” not all families have access to larger land plots that would allow them to earn money to supplement the 28-lari (about $13) per person monthly allowance they receive from the government. That means money for additional food runs scarce. Outside jobs are often not an option. Georgia faces a huge employment shortage; a problem compounded by the isolation of many IDP settlements from other communities.

Families who have not yet received an official IDP status – estimated by the government to represent one percent of all IDPs – have spent the past two years in even greater limbo, with little assistance from either donors or the government. In a 5 August report on Georgia’s IDPs, Amnesty International called on the government to do more to provide employment opportunities and better land for farming. The report argues that “there is no coherent state policy to tackle the general unemployment or unemployment among vulnerable groups such as the displaced.” The government, however, maintains that there is no risk of IDPs starving this winter without international food assistance.
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But for IDPs like Lamara Kokoela, a pensioner displaced from the village of Kekvi in South Ossetia, such investments are a distant dream. Drooping corn stalks, their green stems dried to a pale yellow by the hot sun, surround Kokoela’s tiny cottage in Tserovani, an IDP settlement about 30 minutes outside Tbilisi. Bad soil quality and a lack of rain have left her family with practically no way to earn money from their garden plot, Kokoela said. “We don’t even have money for diapers [for our 9-month old granddaughter],” she said. Along with a chorus of neighbors, Kokoela asked why the government does not give IDPs more assistance.

More on the end of WFP operations in Yemen

The World Food Programme may soon have to stop operations in Yemen due to a drop of donations from United Nations member countries. This comes at a time with international focus is on the lack of stability in Yemen, and the threat of al-Queda recruiting hungry people.

From Canada.com, this Reuters story describes the situation.

"With the current funding situation, we will have to cease operations by the end of August," said Gian Carlo Cirri, the WFP representative in Yemen, where one in three people suffer from chronic hunger.

"The situation is extremely serious."

The WFP says it would need $75 million to continue operations for the duration of 2010 in impoverished Yemen, which is trying at once to cement a truce with northern rebels, quell separatism in the south and fight a resurgent al-Qaida arm.

Growing instability in Yemen is a major global security concern since a Yemen-based regional arm of al-Qaida claimed responsibility for a failed December attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane.

Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al-Qaida could exploit poverty and chaos in Yemen to use it as a base for destabilizing attacks in the region and beyond.

They want Yemen to resolve its domestic conflicts and consolidate power.

But Yemen, strategically located next door to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia but with fewer resources, is also trying to avert economic disaster for many, including around 350,000 displaced by the northern war, most of whom receive WFP support.

Niger to receive some cash as well as food

From IRIN, to combat disruptions in food aid distributions within famine-stricken Niger, the World Food Programme is considering giving some cash.

Logistical and funding constraints could cause shortages in the food aid pipeline from July onward, hampering distributions to some of Niger's 7.8 million food-insecure people, say NGOs and the World Food Programme (WFP). More cash distributions could be the answer.

"There are gaps – we don't have all the food we would like to have, and of the resources we have received, we are struggling to ensure food will be available for distribution during the critical lean season," Gianluca Ferrera, head of WFP in Niger, told IRIN. WFP has received 40,000mt of the 113,000mt needed for 2010, and expects to receive about 20,000mt in July and in August.

The government has emergency food stocks and cash to distribute over coming months. It is currently undertaking a countrywide survey of the latest food security needs, due out in July.

Aid agencies are addressing severe acute malnutrition fairly well, said Patrick Barbier, head of Médecins Sans Frontières in Niger, but many cases of moderate malnutrition, which require food supplements like grains, oil and pulses, are not being met.

Upstream and downstream

WFP's Ferrera told IRIN there were "upstream" and "downstream" challenges to the food pipeline. "Upstream problems are: ensuring we have enough money to buy the food that we need, and that we have it in time." WFP is US$22 million short of the $124 million it will cost to buy 113,000mt of food.

Downstream problems include difficulties in transporting the food to rural areas; the arrival of the rains, which could make roads impassable; and ongoing delays in obtaining cargo clearance for shipped food. Most of WFP's fortified corn-soya blend (CSB) comes from the United States and Europe, and arrives at the ports of Lomé in Togo and Cotonou in Benin.

WFP has launched its largest ever regional procurement drive, looking to fill 30,000mt of the food gap with maize, millet and beans from Benin, Ghana, Togo, Mali, and Burkina Faso; so far half of this quantity has been bought.

Ferrera said the agency would expand regional purchases if it could obtain the extra $22 million. Nigeria is not seen as an option for sourcing food because WFP had experienced difficulties in obtaining export permits and clearance when it tried to buy grains there in 2005.

Despite local imports, gaps are likely. "WFP food may not be sufficient for the number of people in need – additional solutions must be considered," Severine Courtiol, head of programmes in Niger at Save the Children, an international NGO, told IRIN.

Cash or seeds?

"Cash [distributions], where possible," would have to make up the shortfall in food, Courtiol said. They were quicker than food, and cut out having to pay heavy customs, as well as delivery and transport problems. But, "We also need to find the cash."

Many markets in towns and cities are functioning well and have sufficient grain, much of it from Nigeria, Benin and Burkina Faso, an update by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) noted in May 2010.

The update on the Maradi, Tahoua and Zinder regions of southern Niger was based on FEWSNET's own assessments and those by Concern Worldwide, an NGO that combats poverty and hunger.

"If we had cash I think it could be an option, especially in urban areas ... we can expect urban markets to keep working relatively well," said Courtiol. Ferrera said market conditions in rural areas varied but, in general, grain prices were rising and imports dwindling, as was usual in the lean season.

Save the Children has upped its cash distributions in the Aguie and Tessaoua districts of the Maradi region in southern Niger, with help from the European Commission and US government.

Concern Worldwide offers vulnerable families a choice between seeds to plant, plus a small cash stipend, or $37 (20,000 CFA) per month in cash, distributed via mobile phones from January to September. In Tahoua province, southwestern Niger, fertilizers, food, and therapeutic food for severely malnourished children are also provided.

In discussions with community members, more people said they would choose cash rather than seeds.

Communities with the greatest crop failure – some had 90 percent or above – or that lived further away from a market, tended to opt for seeds, while those with market access, lower crop losses, or limited access to land, tended to choose cash.

Tom Arnold, head of NGO Concern Worldwide, said aid agency coverage was relatively good and NGOs were coping, but food security could deteriorate in coming weeks. "There is potentially a very high risk that problems will get a lot worse," he warned. "It takes time to mobilize and distribute food."

World Food Programme may have to shut down operations in Yemen

The World Food Programme provides food to a half a million people in Yemen. But the WFP says that it may have to suspend operations in the country in August. The WFP says a lack of donations from UN member countries are to blame. Donations have dropped to the WFP since the start of the global economic crisis.

From Reuters, writer Raissa Kasolowsky sheds more light on the WFP troubles.

"With the current funding situation, we will have to cease operations by the end of August," said Gian Carlo Cirri, the WFP representative in Yemen, where one in three people suffer from chronic hunger. "The situation is extremely serious."

The WFP says it would need $75 million to continue operations for the duration of 2010 in impoverished Yemen, which is trying at once to cement a truce with northern rebels, quell separatism in the south and fight a resurgent al Qaeda arm.

Growing instability in Yemen is a major global security concern since a Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed December attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane.

Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda could exploit poverty and chaos in Yemen to use it as a base for destabilising attacks in the region and beyond. They want Yemen to resolve its domestic conflicts and consolidate power.

But Yemen, strategically located next door to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia but with fewer resources, is also trying to avert economic disaster for many, including around 350,000 displaced by the northern war, most of whom receive WFP support.

Meanwhile, donations to the WFP have fallen sharply as the financial crisis continues to dog many donor countries, Cirri said. In addition, many funds were diverted to Haiti after the Caribbean state was hit by a devastating earthquake in January. That has meant Yemen has had to do with less.

The possible end of WFP food aid in Yemen

The World Food Programme will soon be no longer able to provide food aid to Yemen. Funding shortages will force the WFP to stop operations there in June. A war and an influx of refuges from Somalia give Yemen over three million hungry people.

The WFP says they need 103 million dollars to continue feeding the people in Yemen. The US has given the WFP some money, but not enough to continue operations for too long. Many donors around the world are afraid to give any aid to Yemen, fearing the aid could support the government of Abdullah Ali Saleh.

From Al Jazerra, writer Hugh McLeod talks more about the future of WFP operations in Yemen.

As the international community focuses on defeating al-Qaeda in Yemen, millions of ordinary people in the country on the south-west tip of the Arabian Peninsula are quietly starving as vital deliveries of UN food aid are severely cut due to a lack of funding.

By the end of June 2010, analysts predict, the WPF will have no food to distribute to Yemen's millions of hungry.

There are fears that this will debilitate the nearly one in three Yemenis - over seven million people - who struggle daily to find enough food to live a healthy and productive life, leading to rates of malnutrition that are the third highest in the world.

A recent survey by the WFP estimated that of those going hungry each day, 2.7mn Yemenis are classified as "severely food insecure" meaning they spend one third of their meagre incomes just on bread.

"They are in a total poverty trap," says Gian Carlo Cirri, thw WFP country director.

"Most of the time they are illiterate, they have no access to land or water. The children are not attending school and the probability of having a malnourished child in the family is extremely high."

Sprinkling on added nutrients to food

Scientists have developed a powder that people can sprinkle on top of their maize or corn meal to give the food added nutrients. The powder called "Sprinkles" and it is now being distributed by the UN's World Food Programme and give much need nutrients to the people of the under-developed world.

From The Vancouver Sun, writer Louisa Taylor introduces us to Sprinkles and it's creator.

“This is really exciting,” says Henk-Jan Brinkman as he pulls a small silver package from the breast pocket of his elegant dark blue suit. What’s exciting is not so much the scores of tiny sprinkles inside the foil package, but what those sprinkles can do, and for whom.

One third of all children around the world die before their fifth birthday because of malnutrition, most of them in Africa and other parts of the developing world. In many cases, their parents can afford to give them food, but it is far from adequate to meet their vitamin and mineral needs.

Enter Sprinkles, and other micronutrient powders now distributed by the UN and non-governmental organizations. Shake them over cooked maize or corn meal, and they won’t change the colour or taste of the food, but they will add a potent boost of iron and essential vitamins to prevent anemia, the most common nutrient deficiency.

Brinkman, an economist and senior adviser with the UN’s World Food Program, said studies have tracked children into adulthood and found striking differences in income between those who received adequate nutrition in their earliest days, and those who did not.

“Research shows us that there is a window of opportunity of about 1,000 days — from conception up to two years old — where nutrition is absolutely critical to healthy brain and body development,” said Brinkman.

“It has helped us focus on improving food, making sure people have not just food to eat but high quality food, and the right food for their needs.”

Report says half of Somalia food aid never reaches needy

A new report given to the United Nations Security Council says that half of Somalia's food aid never reaches the needy. The report says that instead of going to the hungry, the food goes to Islamic militants or to corrupt contractors. The report recommends that the United Nations completely stop World Food Programme operations in Somalia, and rebuild it's food distribution from the beginning.

From the New York Times, reporters Jeffrey Gettlerman and Neil MacFarquhar detail what is in the report.

The report, which has not yet been made public but was shown to The New York Times by diplomats, outlines a host of problems so grave that it recommends that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon open an independent investigation into the World Food Program’s Somalia operations. It suggests that the program rebuild the food distribution system — which serves at least 2.5 million people and whose aid was worth about $485 million in 2009 — from scratch to break what it describes as a corrupt cartel of Somali distributors.

In addition to the diversion of food aid, regional Somali authorities are collaborating with pirates who hijack ships along the lawless coast, the report says, and Somali government ministers have auctioned off diplomatic visas for trips to Europe to the highest bidders, some of whom may have been pirates or insurgents.
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Possible aid obstructions have been a nettlesome topic for Somalia over the past year and have contributed to delays in aid shipments by the American government and recent suspensions of food programs in some areas by United Nations officials.

The report singles out the World Food Program, the largest aid agency in the crisis-racked country, as particularly flawed.

“Some humanitarian resources, notably food aid, have been diverted to military uses,” the report said. “A handful of Somali contractors for aid agencies have formed a cartel and become important power brokers — some of whom channel their profits, or the aid itself, directly to armed opposition groups.”

These allegations of food aid diversions first surfaced last year. The World Food Program has consistently denied finding any proof of malfeasance and said that its own recent internal audit found no widespread abuse.
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The report questions why the World Food Program would steer 80 percent of its transportation contracts for Somalia, worth about $200 million, to three Somali businessmen, especially when they are suspected of connections to Islamist insurgents.

The report says that fraud is pervasive, with about 30 percent of aid skimmed by local partners and local World Food Program personnel, 10 percent by the ground transporters and 5 to 10 percent by the armed group in control of the area. That means as much as half of the food never makes it to the people who desperately need it.

WFP food being stopped by Islamic militants in Somalia

The UN's World Food Programme says that militants in Somalia are not allowing food aid to reach thousands. A checkpoint near the capitol of Mogadishu has not allowed the WFP to pass in over two weeks, preventing food aid from reaching over 300,000 people.

The militants claim that they are stopping the food for the benefit of local farmers, but they also say that the WFP is helping whose who have renounced Islam. Somalia currently only grows enough food to feed 30 percent of it's people.

From the Washington Post, Associated Press reporter Katharine Houreld tells us more about the situation.

Trucks carrying food aid have not been allowed to pass through a checkpoint in the Afgooye corridor near the capital of Mogadishu for the past two weeks, WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said.

Afgooye has the largest concentration of displaced people in the country. It is nominally controlled by the insurgent group Hizbul Islam but allied Islamist group al-Shabab also operates roadblocks there. On Sunday, al-Shabab prohibited WFP from distributing food in areas under its control because it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.

"Somali farmers are having a hard time selling their produce because WFP distributes food aid across the regions and that is demoralizing," an al-Shabab statement said. "The organization has been completely banned."

It also accused the agency of handing out food unfit for human consumption and of secretly supporting "apostates," or those who have renounced Islam.

WFP had already pulled out of al-Shabab controlled areas in southern and central Somalia in January following al-Shabab demands that included the firing of female aid workers, payments for protection and buying food to be distributed from local merchants. WFP says it did not expect the suspension to have a devastating impact immediately because harvests are imminent, but hunger is expected to increase after March unless operations are resumed.

Rain returns to Kenya

The rain has come back to Kenya, but many are still hungry. Meteorologists in Kenya say that crops will not fail this year, as the rain season that has just begun has provided enough water.

However, because of previous dry seasons, millions of people are still hungry in the region. Aid officials from the UN' s World Food Programme say they will continue to provide food to the region.

From this Associated Press article hosted at Google, we learn more on what could be the end of the drought.

Spokesman Ayub Shaka said Monday that drought-stricken areas received enough precipitation last week to indicate that this season's rainfall will not fail. The short rainfall season usually lasts from mid-October to December and the long rains from the beginning of March to the end of May.

Rain has been sparse for the last four seasons. The drought has led to crop failure, deaths of herd animals and widespread hunger.

Allan Jury of the World Food Programme on H.R. 2817

Bill H. R. 2817 is a measure being considered in Congress to give more money and support to the World Food Programme. Recently the WFP has had to make some cutbacks in the emergency feeding programs and school feeding programs for children in the under-developed world.

The WFP has been asking for mory money from governments around the world, but support has been slow due to the global recession. The WFP hopes that the passage of H.R. 2817 will bring in more from the US.

We found this interview with Alan Jury of the WFP in the American Chronicle that asks him about the bill and why the WFP needs more from the US.

U.S. leadership is needed to rally the world in the struggle to defeat hunger. There is legislation in Congress titled the Roadmap to End Global Hunger (H.R. 2817) that would craft the U.S. response to the crisis. Allan Jury, director of WFP US relations, recently discussed the Roadmap to End Global Hunger legislation.

More than 1 billion people now suffer from chronic hunger worldwide. How important is it for the U.S. Congress to act on the Roadmap to End Global Hunger legislation?

The world has made great strides against hunger and poverty in recent decades: starting in the 1960s, the percentage of chronically hungry people declined from 37 percent of the world's population to about 13 percent today. Tragically, the twin catastrophes of the global food and financial crises are starting to reverse these hard-won gains, producing an unprecedented rise in absolute numbers of the hungry.

Much of the progress the world has made is due in no small part to US foreign assistance and the generosity of American citizens. The Roadmap builds on this legacy of US leadership in helping the world's hungry poor to construct a broad framework of legislative actions that encompasses the spectrum of anti-hunger efforts - from food and interventions to agricultural programs that help small-scale farmers. The Roadmap legislation has bipartisan sponsorship from two of the leading Congressional voices in the fight against hunger - Rep. James McGovern and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. The legislation is based on a report authored by six of the leading U.S. international humanitarian organizations which has been endorsed by more than 30 aid agencies.

We believe that this vision of invigorated US global leadership on hunger is vital not only for moral and humanitarian reasons, but for social, economic and political security in the longer term.

How would the Roadmap legislation change the way the international community works with the United States Government on fighting global hunger?

The legislation would require a comprehensive US strategy to fighting hunger that would increase investments in four areas - emergency food assistance, food safety nets, nutrition and agricultural development.

Increased investments in all four of these areas is essential to making a significant impact in reducing hunger. The roadmap highlights the need to broaden the range of activities supported by the US Government to support hunger reduction to complement essential existing food aid and agricultural development programs. More use of cash for emergency responses such as local and regional purchase and food vouchers; expansion of national food safety nets; focused interventions on prenatal and children under 2 nutritional needs, and innovative technical assistance programs to increase agricultural development are supported by the roadmap.


The Roadmap would also establish a US government coordination structure that would support effective implementation of a comprehensive US strategy on international hunger reduction. This would provide the policy, institutional, and program framework to secure the US role as the global leader in building an international coalition to fight hunger.

Two million children starving in Bangladesh

The UN's World Food Program says that two million children are barely able to survive in Bangladesh. The WFP worries that another economic crisis could push more people in jeopardy, as the country is starving from the hikes in food prices last year, and the global recession.

From this AFP story that we found at The Raw Story we read more of the situation in Bangladesh.

World Food Programme (WFP) country head John Aylieff said two million children aged under five in Bangladesh are suffering from acute malnutrition, which by World Health Organization standards represents a "nutritional emergency."

"The population is beyond the razor's edge, so that any other economic shock is going to have an immediate and direct impact on malnutrition," Aylieff told AFP.

Bangladesh was cushioned from the worst ravages of the global financial meltdown, but experts warn remittances and exports could be badly hit towards the end of this year.

In addition, the WFP is facing a global funding crisis, raising only 3.7 billion of the 6.7 billion dollars needed for its food assistance programmes worldwide in 2009.

In Bangladesh, it had planned programmes to help 6.9 million "completely destitute" people this year, but Aylieff said four million fell through the funding net.

"These are the bottom of the poverty scale. These are the ones micro-credit institutions wouldn't dream of looking at," Aylieff said.

Food prices in Bangladesh almost doubled in 2008 after the country's grain production was devastated by major flooding and a catastrophic cyclone the previous year, pushing an extra 7.5 million people below the poverty line, according to the WFP.

WFP stops feeding Somalia

The World Food Programme has decided to close feeding centers in Somalia. In most cases it's the only access that people there have to food. The WFP says they have run out of money and blame a lack of funding from governments throughout the world.

The WFP is also out of food for Kenya, who is experiencing their worst drought in decades. WFP feeding programs in Ethiopia and Uganda have also had cutbacks.

From the BBC, reporter Martin Plaut explains this sad development.

The decision has been made despite the ongoing crisis in Somalia, and the WFP says the reductions are now hitting people across east Africa.

Despite the depth of the need, the WFP says the international community has failed to rally round with the funding it requires.
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The cuts could hardly have come at a more serious moment - the conflict in Somalia has driven tens of thousands to flee from their homes.

And the country is also suffering from a severe drought.

As a result the UN estimates that more than three million Somalis need food aid - half the total population.

Put another way, one child in five is acutely malnourished, yet the WFP is having to close the services on which they depend.

An update on the aid emergency in Yemen

Aid workers cannot enter the Yemen city of Saada where over 35,000 people are trapped due to armed conflict. The city lacks the water, food and electricity needed for those trapped people. Fighting has intensified between the Yemen government and Islamic rebels.

The World Heath Organization is currently giving out medicine and malaria bed nets to those who have managed to escape. The U.N.s World Food Programme has already had to cut back on food aid in the region due to the violence.

From this Reuters article, reporter Stephanie Nebehay fills us in on the aid emergency.

"We need access to these people, they lack water and electricity. Living conditions are more and more precarious for the displaced and residents," said Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has called for a ceasefire in the latest flare-up of fighting between Yemen's government and Shi-ite Muslim rebels, which has driven an estimated 100,000 people from their homes in the north of the Arab country.

"According to those who managed to flee the besieged city and our staff on the ground, the fighting appears to be concentrated in the old Saada city. They also report frequent air strikes (in the area)," said the UNCHR's Andrej Mahecic.

The government rejected a truce offer by Shi'ite al-Houthi rebels late on Monday, after accusing the Iranian media of stoking the conflict. [IDnL1563997]

Aid agencies are now trying to arrange a "humanitarian corridor" to get supplies into Saada through Saudi Arabia.

Malaria, measles and diarrhoeal diseases pose a serious threat to uprooted people without access to medical services, and areas of northwestern Hajjah province are showing high levels of malaria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

WFP ask for 230 million dollars for Kenya

The U.N.'s World Food Programme is asking for 230 million dollars to help drought stricken Kenya. The WFP says that will amount to 260,000MT of food, the WFP is already distributing 32,000MT a month to 2.6 million people.

From this IRIN article that we found at Reuters Alert Net, we learn more about the other moves taking place to help the people.

The government is also trucking water to drought-affected communities and buying livestock at a cost of KSh8,000 (about $105) per live cow, significantly above prevailing market prices.

A 2009 long rains assessment found that "3.8 million pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and marginal agricultural farm households require urgent humanitarian food assistance".

The assessment, conducted by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) in May and July, covered 30 districts, including 27 drought-prone ones and three affected by the 2008 post-election violence.

Failure of the long rains in the marginal agricultural lowlands and some pastoral and agro-pastoral areas have caused a substantial decline in both crop and livestock production, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net).

High cereal prices have further accentuated food insecurity. The average price of the main staple, maize, has doubled over the last year.

Expected long-rains maize production will be about 28 percent below normal because of insufficient rains - further tightening supply.

More on the emergency aid plea for Kenya

We did mention this same story a couple of days ago, but we wanted to do another post on the request for emergency assistance to Kenya. The U.N.'s World Food Programme is asking the world for donations and food for the country. Kenya is experiencing their worst drought in a decade. The usual rainy season through August and July did not have much any rain.

From this story from the BBC we read more about the request and a scandal that has made matters worse,

The World Food Programme (WFP) has described the crisis as a "very difficult situation" and appealed to donor countries to offer funds.

Currently some 2.5 million people are receiving emergency food aid in the country but the effect of the drought has meant that a further 1.3 million now also need help.

"People are saying it is the worst drought since 2000," said WFP spokeswoman Gabrielle Menezes.

The regions affected normally harvest their crops once a year, planting them in April and collecting in September after the rains. But this year those rains have failed to come.

The Kenyan government was supposed to have built up a sizeable stock of maize but, following allegations of a corruption scandal, it only has enough to last another six weeks, says the BBC's East Africa correspondent, Will Ross.

Many subsistence farmers are reported to be abandoning rural areas - where they rely on aid - and moving into already over-congested slums in the towns and cities.