May 17, 2012 · 4:47 am

President Obama to Make Speech About Global Hunger Crisis

Food aid is desperately needed by refugees from the conflict in Mali. While some refugees were able to bring a few animals with them, most of the camp’s inhabitants were forced to leave their livestock at home in Mali. (WFP/Jacqueline Seeley)

With hunger emergencies ongoing in the Sahel region of Africa, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan and other countries, President Barack Obama faces one of his most daunting foreign policy challenges. The President will be making a speech about the global hunger crisis this Friday, May 18th, at the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington D.C.

Obama’s speech will be pivotal in rallying support to fight off famine on multiple fronts. In the Sahel region of Africa massive drought and a conflict in Northern Mali have placed over 16 million people at risk of starvation. The Sahel hunger crisis, which impacts Niger, Mauritania, Mali, and at least five other nations, is expected to peak this summer. Aid agencies are short on funding to meet the challenge. Annie Bodmer-Roy, of Save the Children, posted on Twitter today about the tragedy aid workers are witnessing in Niger: “Hear[t]breaking news this aft: 7mnth-old boy I met yesterday, badly malnourished, did not make it through the day. We need to stop this.”

The UN World Food Programme’s director Ertharin Cousin and UNHCR director Antonio Guterres said in a joint statement, “The window of opportunity to save lives is narrowing by the day. Today we appeal to the international community on behalf of the most vulnerable people in Niger and Sahelian countries. The time to act is now.”

The Sahel though is not the only area in crisis. East Africa is still recovering from last year’s drought and famine.

In Sudan, as conflict escalates so does hunger. Farmers have been forced away from their land. Drought also has hit, leveling another blow at food production. As peace efforts go forward by the U.S. and allies, so too must humanitarian aid to the displaced. There must be a special effort at food for malnourished children under five years of age, and also feeding programs for school age children.

In Afghanistan, hunger and malnutrition have severely damaged hopes for peace and development within the country. Low funding for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has limited its ability to carry out hunger relief missions. The UN agency is warning that funding shortages will mean more cuts to programs helping the hungry. Even school feeding programs of high energy biscuits and take-home rations will face cuts again as they did last year unless support comes from the international community.

Yemen, a country high on the U.S. national security priorities, is deeply mired in hunger and malnutrition. The World Food Programme says that 22 percent of the population suffers from severe hunger.

A report from the UN says, there are almost one million children under the age of five in Yemen who are estimated to suffer from acute malnutrition, with 267,000 children at risk of dying without food aid. Children who suffer from malnutrition in the first years of life suffer lasting physical and mental damage. The key is to intervene quickly.

About 60 percent of Yemen’s children suffer from stunting. Child malnutrition in parts of Yemen rivals that of famine-ravaged Somalia. The United Nations says that the humanitarian response plan in Yemen remains $265 million dollars underfunded.

The challenge facing President Obama, as was the case with some of his predecessors, is to rally support for fighting global hunger, an issue often off the radar of politicians and media.

President Harry Truman was able to do so after World War II when hunger threatened the recovery of the World War II devastated countries. Truman worked closely with former President Herbert Hoover to build support at home and abroad. Dwight Eisenhower was also among those speaking out of the need for fighting hunger in order to win the peace. When Eisenhower later became president he started the Food for Peace program which today needs a funding boost to meet the growing humanitarian challenge.

Food for Peace is the primary tool of the US when it comes to fighting global hunger. The program makes donations to countries suffering from hunger. For instance Food for Peace donations came to the aid of East Africa last year when a severe drought hit. The World Food Programme, Catholic Relief Services and other organizations distribute the food.

The Food for Peace program though is only as strong as how much funding Congress allows when it makes the foreign policy budget. The funding range right now for Food for Peace is around $1.5 billion dollars a year, whereas the annual cost to the nuclear weapons program is at least $52 billion dollars a year.

Today, there clearly is a need to boost the funding for Food for Peace and other aid programs given the size of the humanitarian disaster facing the globe. Increased emphasis to Food for Peace may be starting to take hold. So far this year U.S. Food for Peace donations to Yemen have increased over 2011. The most recent US Food for Peace donations totaling $47 million dollars will help feed Yemenis displaced by the ongoing conflict.

President Obama’s focus needs to be on the ongoing humanitarian emergencies and also how to prevent them from recurring. This means peace efforts to end the conflicts causing so much hunger and displacement, and food aid to reinforce the peace. The key is to build up food production in impoverished countries. Increasing the resilience of the small farmer to drought, will be a key topic of discussion at the symposium along with how the governments and business leaders can work together to make this happen.

Article first published as President Obama to Make Speech About Global Hunger Crisis on Blogcritics.

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May 9, 2012 · 6:51 pm

The Stamp Out Hunger Drive: Helping to End Hunger in America

This Saturday provides an opportunity to end hunger in America, and it all starts at your mailbox. The National Association of Letter Carriers and the Campbell Soup Company are sponsoring the Stamp Out Hunger Drive. This Saturday, May 12th, citizens are asked to put out canned goods (non-perishable items) by their mailbox. The food will be collected by their mail carrier and then distributed to foodbanks.

The charity Feeding America says the Stamp Out Hunger Drive is the largest single food drive in the country. The event provides a significant boost to Feeding America’s network of emergency foodbanks across the country.

Sarah Cook of the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank says that last year Stamp Out Hunger donations produced enough food for 80,000 meals provided to the area’s hungry. Denise Gibson of the Ozarks Food Harvest said 131,000 pounds of food were donated by citizens of Southwest Missouri via Stamp Out Hunger.

Terry Shannon, the President of the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in Arizona says Stamp Out Hunger raises “Between 350,000 and 400,000 pounds (of food). It is the largest one day food drive for the food bank.” St. Mary’s provides aid throughout Arizona including supporting summer feeding for children in Maricopa County. The agency also assists Apache County, which has a 28% food insecurity rate, one of the highest in the country.

Dan Getman of the Food Bank of South Jersey said the event last year produced 119,550 pounds for their agency to distribute. Getman adds that Campbell’s Soup is sending out collection bags to homes in South Jersey to encourage donations.

Foodbanks all across the country need help as there are nearly 49 million people suffering from hunger.

The collection of canned goods can provide some quick relief especially at a time of the year when donations are generally down as compared to the holidays.

There is one extra thing Americans can do via the Stamp Out Hunger Drive. You could send a letter or an e-mail this Saturday to your representative in Congress asking them to fight hunger. You can remind them of the need to support the nation’s foodbanks as you will be doing on Stamp Out Hunger Day.

Nora Balduff of the Second Harvest Foodbanks of Ohio says Stamp Out Hunger “comes at a lean time of year for emergency food relief, after the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.” The Mid-Ohio Foodbank, West Ohio Foodbank, Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, The Foodbank, Inc. (Dayton), and The Shared Harvest Foodbank (Fairfield) all benefit from Stamp Out Hunger.

Balduff adds that the event “also comes at a time when one of our federal partners in hunger relief, the U.S. House of Representatives, could vote on May 10th to cut SNAP/food stamp benefits by an average of $57.00 for a family of four by September 2012 (H.R. 4666)…Caring Ohioans do their part to end hunger, we need our federal partners to do the same.”

You can also ask your representative to take steps to improve the nation’s school feeding program, particularly during the summer months when many hungry children are not able to access school meals.

Ask your representative to pledge to fight hunger in America and also abroad where children are starving in Africa, Afghanistan, Yemen and other areas. Your elected officials can follow a tradition of Truman, Eisenhower and other leaders who supported ending hunger.

So this Saturday’s Stamp Out Hunger Drive can be a great success. By donating canned goods you can provide quick relief to our nation’s foodbanks as they struggle to keep up with the growing hunger crisis in America. Via a simple letter you can ask your elected officials in Congress to represent you and your desire to end hunger in America and all over the globe.

For more information visit Stamp Out Hunger.

Article first published as The Stamp Out Hunger Drive: Helping to End Hunger in America on Blogcritics.

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May 8, 2012 · 2:43 am

Mauritania: School Meals, Refugee Aid Lack Funding

WFP is providing aid to refugees who fled the conflict in Mali and have been arriving daily in Mauritania and other neighboring countries including Niger.WFP though is facing a funding shortage for its refugee relief mission.
Photo credit: WFP/Alan Mouton

As the hunger crisis deepens in eight countries of the Sahel region of Africa, humanitarian aid should be increasing. This is not the case though in parts of the drought-stricken area.

In Mauritania school meals for children have been reduced by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) due to low funding. WFP relies entirely on voluntary donations.

WFP’s March distribution of food to schools in Mauritania was supposed to provide 54 days of meals to the students. With the low funding WFP had to reduce the number of days children could receive meals from 54 to 40.

WFP runs the school feeding for around 150,000 students in nine rural areas where there is malnutrition and poverty. The meals are meant to keep the children in school especially at a time when drought and high prices have made it much harder for families to get food. WFP has struggled to find funding for the school meals program, leaving it constantly vulnerable to reduced rations.

No summer feeding program is available for the school children at present. So these children and their families will be headed into the peak period of the Sahel hunger crisis with one less source of food.

A program of summer take-home rations would provide a much-needed safety net for the 150,000 students, plus their families. This would be a crucial addition to ongoing WFP relief operations such as the provision of plumpy’sup, a special food to help combat potentially life threatening malnutrition in infants.

One of the areas in Mauritania where WFP provides school meals is called Hodh ech Chargui. There are 120,000 Mauritanians in this area, 37 percent of the population, who suffer from hunger.

The severe drought conditions is hard enough to cope with. There are even more challenges. Hodh ech Chargui is also hosting more than 63,000 refugees from a conflict in the neighboring country of Mali. WFP is facing an 86 percent shortage of funds to feed these refugees.

Mauritania, and other neighboring countries, are seeing a daily influx of refugees from Mali. The UN World Food Programme’s director Ertharin Cousin, who just visited the Sahel region, said she met a refugee who said, “everybody wants to leave Mali.” The stream of refugees from Mali is expected to continue. The funding for humanitarian aid has to start flowing more rapidly too.

The international community has to act now to fund all relief operations and be prepared for an increasing number of refugees. If the world acts now, it can help prevent a famine in the Sahel this summer.

Article first published as Mauritania: School Meals, Refugee Aid Lack Funding on Blogcritics.

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May 6, 2012 · 3:27 am

Sudan, South Sudan Need Demilitarized Border

Civilians living in the border areas between South Sudan and Sudan are caught in the deadly crossfire between two rival nations. Lives have been lost, families displaced from their homes and communities. And it could get much worse.

There is fear the two nations will start an all-out war, a return to the level of suffering during the two-decade conflict that ended in 2005.

President Obama said directly to both Sudan and South Sudan last month, “It doesn’t have to be this way. Conflict is not inevitable. You still have a choice.”

South Sudan and Sudan can choose to implement the much needed “safe demilitarized border zone” which the UN Security Council is urging them to adopt. By pulling back their forces, they can stop the bloodshed, lower tensions and the risk of miscalculations by their forces, and allow humanitarian aid to flow more freely. There is tremendous hunger and poverty in this region.

The UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Sudan director Chris Nikoi says, “The food security situation in the border states was already precarious. Now the border clashes threaten to displace more people and disrupt already fragile livelihoods.”

Food, water, medicine, shelter, and education need to constitute the sole focus on both sides of the border. This can only happen once Sudan and South Sudan pull their armies back from the brink.

John Quincy Adams once said about a buildup of arms on the Great Lakes along the U.S. border with British-ruled Canada in 1816, “the moral and political tendency of such a system must be to war and not to peace.” The U.S. and Britain chose then to demilitarize rather than escalate, having had enough of conflict from previous years. Treaties followed rather than war.

Such diplomacy is the only answer to South Sudan and Sudan’s struggle too. For it can open the only road to peace for the two countries: dialogue and negotiation.

See also “An Independent Nation’s Parallel Path to Lasting Peace”.

Article first published as Sudan, South Sudan Need Demilitarized Border on Blogcritics.

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April 30, 2012 · 11:42 pm

Romney-Obama Battleground State Suffering from Hunger Crisis

Summer is coming and all eyes will be on Ohio since it’s the battleground state in the Barack Obama versus Mitt Romney presidential showdown.

What cannot be forgotten amid the election hype is that Ohio is suffering from a growing hunger crisis. A report released on Friday from Feeding America, the nation’s largest food aid organization, showed that 18.1 percent of Ohio’s population is suffering from hunger. Last year the rate was 17 percent. This “food insecurity” affects over 2 million people in the state.

Five Congressional districts in Ohio had hunger rates well above the Ohio average (districts 1,3, 9, 11, 17). Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director at the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, says, “We believe that no one in our state should go hungry or try to survive without access to adequate amounts of healthy, nutritious food.”

The arrival of summer brings a new problem and it’s not just legions of reporters and campaign staffs trouncing through the state. When school ends many children lose access to one of the most important safety nets against hunger, the federal free or reduced price breakfast and lunch programs.

This is an issue in Ohio and across the nation as the dilemma becomes how to distribute the food with most schools closed during the summer months. New feeding sites or mobile pantries are some of the options that have been utilized, but still huge gaps remain.

Many needy children who receive the meals during the school year end up going without during the summer. A report from the Children’s Hunger Alliance showed that in Franklin County, Ohio there were over 78,000 children who received the free or reduced price school lunches in 2011. In the summer though just over 11,000 children received the meals. In some counties there were no summer feeding sites at all last year.

Summer is coming and all eyes will be on Ohio since it’s the battleground state in the Barack Obama versus Mitt Romney presidential showdown.

What cannot be forgotten amid the election hype is that Ohio is suffering from a growing hunger crisis. A report released on Friday from Feeding America, the nation’s largest food aid organization, showed that 18.1 percent of Ohio’s population is suffering from hunger. Last year the rate was 17 percent. This “food insecurity” affects over 2 million people in the state.

Five Congressional districts in Ohio had hunger rates well above the Ohio average (districts 1,3, 9, 11, 17). Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director at the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, says, “We believe that no one in our state should go hungry or try to survive without access to adequate amounts of healthy, nutritious food.”

The arrival of summer brings a new problem and it’s not just legions of reporters and campaign staffs trouncing through the state. When school ends many children lose access to one of the most important safety nets against hunger, the federal free or reduced price breakfast and lunch programs.

This is an issue in Ohio and across the nation as the dilemma becomes how to distribute the food with most schools closed during the summer months. New feeding sites or mobile pantries are some of the options that have been utilized, but still huge gaps remain.

Many needy children who receive the meals during the school year end up going without during the summer. A report from the Children’s Hunger Alliance showed that in Franklin County, Ohio there were over 78,000 children who received the free or reduced price school lunches in 2011. In the summer though just over 11,000 children received the meals. In some counties there were no summer feeding sites at all last year.

This summer of 2012, with Ohio’s rate of hunger increasing, many children are at risk unless summer feeding expands quickly.

One possible solution might involve offering citizens of Ohio a chance to buy CARE packages for needy children so they can have food assistance during the summer. The packages could be purchased at stores or online and shipped to needy children by foodbanks. This would be like a summer version of a program run by the Freestore Foodbank of Cincinnati called the Power Pack which gives children foods like rice, milk, and canned fruit to take home for the weekend during the school year.

Perhaps it is fitting that so much election focus will be on Ohio this year as it can shine the light on the hunger crisis facing this state was well as the nation. Feeding America reports there are nearly 49 million Americans who suffer from hunger.

Ohio incidentally has a storied history in the fight against hunger. It dates back to the early 1900’s to Cincinnati school teacher Ella Walsh who was a pioneer in developing school feeding. This spirit continued with support for the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I to the Ohio Food Train which helped win the peace after World War II by feeding the hungry. More recently it’s the expansion of school breakfast programs in Cincinnati.

Ohio has an opportunity now to not only shape the course of the next presidency, but provide a turning point in the struggle to end hunger in America.

Article first published as Romney-Obama Battleground State Suffering from Hunger Crisis on Blogcritics.

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April 29, 2012 · 4:10 am

Haiti: Drought, Low Funding Threaten School Meals Program

Children in class after eating their school meal at École Nationale République de la Colombie in Port-au-Prince.
Photo credit: WFP/Stephanie Tremblay

It’s been over two years since the earthquake struck Haiti. Now, with a massive hunger crisis unfolding on multiple fronts in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the spotlight has shifted away from this country with tremendous reconstruction needs.

Developing a national school feeding program is a top priority, but the danger is funding may drop off, thus breaking the momentum toward achieving this goal. A grant from the U.S. McGovern-Dole school meals program has been significant in helping Haiti. But additional funding is needed to ensure every child in Haiti receives school meals and an education.

With drought conditions hitting parts of Haiti, school feeding takes on more urgency. Families who struggle to access or afford food need the safety net of school feeding.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is helping Haiti provide school meals. Elizabeth Jennings, a public information officer for Haiti, provides us an update in the following interview.

How many children are currently receiving the school meals from WFP?

1.1 million primary age school children.

Are areas harmed by drought included in WFP’s school feeding?

WFP’s school feeding programme in Haiti is currently countrywide, supporting over 3000 schools. So, yes, we reach areas that have been and may potentially be again harmed by drought (where you often see chronic food insecurity), as well as areas that were directly and indirectly affected by the earthquake and areas that have been affected by flooding, among others. We are also in the process of re-targeting all of our activities after the emergency response, including school feeding, and are focusing on the most food-insecure areas in the country, which would also correspond to areas that are vulnerable to droughts, such as the Nord-Ouest.

How has funding from the McGovern-Dole school meals program helped WFP and Haiti?

The 3-year grant of $24 million dollars from McGovern-Dole has been vital to the program. The donation is made in in-kind commodities of WFP’s standard school meal ration (rice, beans, oil, salt), and has provided reliable, consistent support, starting in 2011 (the first year we received the commodities), and will provide commodities through the 2013-2014 school year (the last year of this grant).

We just received the second tranche of commodities which are currently the only resources we have to begin the program at the start of the 2012-2013 school year in September 2012, under the School Feeding Development Project.

There is also a small annual allocation, as part of the grant, for capacity building to the government of Haiti’s national school meals program, which is a critical priority for our work in Haiti. It is also one of WFP’s global strategic objectives. Monitoring & Evaluation, which will be a crucial part of the development of a nationally owned and managed school feeding program, also falls under this objective, alongside building local procurement capacity, with school feeding as a platform to improve local production and increase food security.

What are the biggest challenges currently facing WFP in providing school meals and helping Haiti build a national meals program? Is funding an issue?

Yes, funding is an issue. As is developing consistent, long-term funding so that the national program is able to maintain momentum for growth.

Fragile national capacity and weak implementation capacity is also, as you suspect, an issue. There is a vision for a universal, free school meals program by 2030. Attaining that goal means significant efforts in developing a strong legal and policy framework, strong leadership within the PNCS, support from the Ministry of Education, wherein PNCS resides, and a consistent source of funding for the program that supports the achievement of longer-term goals. WFP provides both technical and implementation support for the school feeding program, as well as prioritizing growing its local procurement activities in the country, linked closely with the school feeding program (as mentioned in point 3).

There are also other school feeding partners and donors in Haiti and though WFP has the largest program, these other parallel school feeding programs (and pipelines) can occasionally make coordination among actors somewhat tenuous, though not impossible.

Are children to receive summer feeding when schools are closed?

WFP is unfortunately not able to provide food for summer camps (camps d’été) this year due to limited funding and resources, though traditionally we have incorporated summer camps into our overall school feeding program.

For more information about Haiti visit the World Food Programme.

Article first published as Haiti: Drought, Low Funding Threaten School Meals Program on Blogcritics.

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April 25, 2012 · 5:39 am

Food Running Out for Refugees from Mali Conflict

A Malian family arrives at a refugee settlement in Fassala in the region of Hodh Echargui in eastern Mauritania. (Photo credit: WFP / Malick Ndiaye)

The hunger crisis in the Sahel region of Africa continues to escalate with thousands of refugees from Mali possibly running out of food within weeks.

A conflict in Northern Mali, as well as drought conditions, has forced thousands of people to flee to safety in Mauritania and other neighboring countries. But that safety depends on humanitarian aid from the international community.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is feeding over 56,000 of these refugees in Mauritania. However, WFP warns that by the 15th of May they will run out of supplies. Their refugee relief mission is facing a funding shortage of 11.4 million dollars. WFP relies entirely on voluntary donations from the international community.

Around 1,000 refugees arrive daily in Mauritania. With the conflict in Mali far from resolved, things could get much worse.

A rebel group called the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (MNLA) recently seized power in Northern Mali. The U.S. State Department said earlier this month, that “a separate Azawad state will only exacerbate the grave problems challenging the Malian state. We also call on the MNLA to cease all military operations. We urge all armed groups to engage in dialogue with civilian leaders in Bamako (the capital of Mali) to find a nonviolent path forward for national elections and a peaceful coexistence.”

Until a peace process can move forward, more Malians will flee. This will put even more stress on Mauritania and other host countries. WFP says the refugee crisis has put a “great strain on host communities of the Hodh Echargui” an area of Mauritania where 37 percent of the population is regarded as “food insecure.” Mauritania, even without this refugee crisis, is facing severe hunger because of drought conditions. WFP is also lacking funds to aid Hodh Echargui as well as other areas of the country.

So what you have in Mauritania is a growing influx of refugees mixed with a hunger crisis from drought. Without adequate funding for WFP and other aid agencies, the situation in Mauritania is certain to deteriorate in the coming months.

The Mauritania crisis is part of the larger massive hunger emergency in the Sahel which also includes the countries of Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, the Gambia, Senegal and Cameroon. WFP says it is short of 357 million dollars for its relief operation across the whole region. If donations do not come in soon, aid will be limited in what is considered the peak time period of hunger of May through September.

The international community can act now and avert famine. But it has to be timely. A donation of funds is just the start of the process. Then comes producing/processing and shipping of food.

Navyn Salem, the director of the food producer Edesia, says her company can produce 1000 boxes of supplies a day. Edesia makes a special peanut paste called plumpy’nut which treats infants suffering from severe malnutrition. It’s a food high in demand in the Sahel.

But if aid agencies lack donations they cannot order plumpy’nut from Edesia and other producers in a timely fashion. And time is everything when it comes to food aid. The later the donation, the later the order gets processed and the more people suffer.

Like WFP, UNICEF is also reporting a shortage of over 60 million dollars for its relief of children in the Sahel. If children do not receive the food quickly, they will suffer lasting physical and mental damage.

The international community has a responsibility to act to avoid a potential famine in the Sahel. They need to respond to an area of Africa suffering from conflict and drought. The warnings have been sounded, more so than last year when it came to famine-ravaged East Africa. But are enough people listening?

Article first published as Food Running Out for Refugees from Mali Conflict on Blogcritics.

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April 23, 2012 · 11:23 pm

School Feeding Vital to Ethiopia As Drought Revisits Region

It is critical that the U.S. and international community ensure that child feeding programs are provided during this time of great drought and conflict throughout East Africa (WFP photo)

Lack of rainfall is placing Ethiopia at risk of a severe hunger crisis in the coming months. This development comes on the heels of last year’s massive drought which struck East Africa.

What is called the “Belg” rains in parts of Ethiopia were late in arriving this year. Crops have not been able to get planted in time.

A report from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) says in Amhara region “the area covered with Belg crops so far is less than 10 percent of the planned area….In view of the very late arrival of the rains and the associated limited planting so far, there is high probability for near total failure of Belg production in most Belg dependent areas of the country, especially those in Tigray, Amhara, and central and eastern Oromia regions.”

Coinciding with crop failures in these areas is an increase in food prices. A report from the U.S. Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNET) says, “Staple food prices have started rising again in many parts of the country, possibly due to the late start of the Belg. Prices typically do not start to seasonally rise until May.”

Ethiopia, which is also hosting refugees who fled the famine in Somalia, will need food assistance in the coming months. The school feeding program becomes urgent because this not only feeds hungry children but keeps them in school.

The World Food Programme (WFP) helps provide school meals in Ethiopia. WFP just earned a grant of 26 million dollars for Ethiopia from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) McGovern-Dole school meals program. However, these supplies can take as much as 6 months to arrive.

So WFP needs help covering the interim period until the McGovern-Dole “cavalry” gets there. With the drought and high food prices taking hold, the USDA and WFP will be working to ensure McGovern-Dole supplies arrive as soon as possible, and finding key interim sources of funding. WFP relies entirely on voluntary donations whether from the public or governments.

Judith Schuler, WFP information officer in Ethiopia, provides us an update on where WFP’s school meals program currently stands.

WFP is reaching 689,000 students currently. Do you hope to expand the program?

Currently WFP’s “Food-for-Education” programme is operational in 1186 schools in 6 regions. Because of resource constraints, there is no plan to expand school meal programme at the moment.

What is the funding shortage that you are currently facing?

The funding requirement for 2012 is US$ 28.5 million and the shortfall for 2012 is about US$ 17.4 million.

Is the school feeding a lunch/breakfast ration? Is there a take home ration aspect?

The school meal is provided either as a breakfast or a mid morning snack. But in schools where there are two shifts , the morning shift students receive the meal mid morning and the afternoon shift students receive the meal at mid-day before they start classes in the afternoon. A take home ration of vegetable oil is provided to girls to encourage attendance in the pastoralist areas of the country and where girls attendance is lower due to economic and cultural reasons. Currently 127,000 girls in pastoral areas are benefitting from the programme.

What percentage of the school feeding is for refugees and what is for the population of Ethiopia?

The School Meal programme for refugees is a separate programme and is run as part of the Refugee Operation. Currently, 35,000 refugee children in all refugee camps benefit from the programme. The regular School Meal programme targets 3 percent of the primary school children in the country.

Article first published as School Feeding Vital to Ethiopia As Drought Revisits Region on Blogcritics.

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April 19, 2012 · 4:01 am

Teaming Up to Defeat Hunger in America

Announcing the opening of the Fight Hunger Together initiative at Walmart are Feeding America president Vickie Escarra (left) and Kimberly Williams Paisley, an actress and award winning director of the film Shade. Photo credit: Feeding America

Some of the largest companies are teaming together to fight hunger in America, at a time of the year when it’s needed most.

Walmart last week announced its Fighting Hunger Together Campaign to make sure foodbanks have enough supplies to last during the spring and summer months. The foodbanks come to the aid of the 49 million Americans who suffer from food insecurity and struggle to get food on the table. General Mills, ConAgra Foods, Kraft Foods and Kellogg Company are joining the hunger relief effort which was announced last week in Nashville, Tennessee.

Walmart says customers can help the hungry when they shop. A press release said signs in the Walmart locations will point customers to products which will have “on-package labels that will “advise customers how to generate meals by entering product codes online, sharing a hashtag on Twitter or scanning a QR code.” Walmart says the campaign is expected to produce 42 million meals.

You can also take part in the campaign by visiting the Walmart facebook page and voting for a community to win a million dollars.

The most important impact of the campaign though will be the awareness it raises about hunger in America. For at this time of the year donations to foodbanks are often reduced and this is especially a cause for alarm with unemployment rates high and potential budget cuts to food assistance programs in Congress.

Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America, says, “No one in America should go hungry and we are proud to partner with Walmart in this effort. Through this program, Walmart and its partners are making a powerful impact that will not only address hunger this spring, but will have a lasting effect on the issue of hunger in America.”

The foodbanks across America are facing pressing needs. Lisa Hamler-Fugitt of the Ohio Second Harvest Foodbanks says,”families are stretched to the breaking point and the agencies that serve them are praying for a miracle.”

Donations though are not as robust as during the holidays months. Jennifer Small of the Maryland Food Bank says, “Typically donations are slower the January to September time period.”

Anna Hogan of the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank says, “right now is typically the time period when donations are a bit less likely…. most donations come in during the holidays, and there is typically a drop off during the Spring and Summer.

The Freestore is holding a Hunger Walk next month to help build up food supplies.

Aside from immediate supply shortages, the biggest problem facing the fight against hunger is awareness. There is enough food in the country but funding cuts or not enough involvement from government, the public or companies leaves those fighting hunger without enough resources to do the job.

There is strength in numbers. The more people become aware and get involved the more likely hunger can be ended in America.

Article first published as Teaming up to Defeat Hunger in America on Blogcritics.

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April 19, 2012 · 3:42 am

Act Now and Avoid Summer Disaster of Hunger and Famine

Food Crisis in the Sahel Region of Africa. This map shows food security projections for July-September 2012. Without enough intervention the hunger crisis could quickly descend into the emergency and famine stages. Food Crisis in the Sahel Region of Africa. This map shows food security projections for July-September 2012. Without enough intervention the hunger crisis could quickly descend into the emergency and famine stages. Photo credit: USAID FEWSNET

Last summer the world was stunned by the famine in East Africa with thousands of children starving to death on the trek from Somalia to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.

We can prevent a similar disaster if we heed the warnings in front of us. The Sahel region of Africa is today suffering from drought and conflict.This part of Africa includes the countries of Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad. Poor rains have meant that food production has been lower than usual in these already impoverished countries.

Now the lean season between harvests is here and 10 million people are at risk of severe food shortages. July through September will be the most dangerous months. The UN World Food Programme warns that “food insecurity during the lean season leads to significant peaks in acute malnutrition and mortality, taking it beyond critical levels.”

The World Food Programme (WFP), which relies on voluntary donations, lacks funding for this crisis. Denise Brown, the WFP director of Niger says, “We do not have enough resources, cash or food, to cover the lean season.” Without enough intervention the Sahel may fall victim to a famine.

South Sudan, which just gained independence last year, may likewise follow. Continued conflict with its northern neighbor Sudan as well as internal conflict between rival tribes is causing a massive movement of displaced persons. Farmers have been forced away from their fields which harms food production.

On top of conflict, a drought has hit South Sudan. WFP says nearly 5 million people are suffering from hunger. Should conflict continue, famine could strike the Sudan region. The U.S. and the international community need to support peace efforts to stop the violence. Diplomacy though must be accompanied by humanitarian aid. It is poor living standards that are a contributing cause behind violence taking place in the Sudan region.

Two countries high on the list of U.S. foreign policy priorities, Yemen and Afghanistan, also suffer from severe hunger. In Yemen 22 percent of the population is afflicted with severe hunger, weakening that society as it tries to fight off Al Qaeda. The White House said in 2010 that humanitarian relief in Yemen was “woefully underfunded” and this trend has continued into this year.

In Afghanistan, while donations from the U.S. and others have helped rescue the country from last year’s massive drought, a 362 million dollar relief and recovery operation by the WFP remains only 10 percent funded. Without food security, Afghanistan cannot develop and build peace, so it’s bewildering why food development initiatives do not get the support they need.

Food aid programs are also relatively inexpensive when you match them against other plans. So these are not wallet breakers especially when countries team up to fight hunger similar to Herbert Hoover’s coordinated relief as the food ambassador after World War II.

The U.S. announced last week that East Africa again suffered from low rains and aid will be needed to help Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, countries already weakened by last years’ drought and famine. Emergency aid, followed by programs to build up the resilience of the small farmer to drought, is the strategy that must be implemented. It’s a case of saving lives now but also planning ahead to feed the future.

If we act now, we can save millions of lives in these areas. But fighting hunger is not often given a top priority within U.S. foreign policy. The Food for Peace program has repeatedly been threatened with cuts by Congress. This plan, signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower, can play a very critical role in winning the peace today.

If Food for Peace funding were increased to 2 or 2.5 billion a year, quite small compared to a 52 billion a year nuclear weapons program, it could help bring much-needed stability to a starving, desperate and impoverished world.

Article first published in the Providence Journal and the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Article published as Act Now and Avoid Summer Disaster of Hunger and Famine on Blogcritics.

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