Tag Archives: food aid

November 13, 2011 · 4:32 am

Drought and Hunger Strike Afghanistan

This year I have written several articles about the drought in Afghanistan and the resulting food shortages. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will be providing aid to over 2 million Afghans in the drought zone during the coming months. This is on top of WFP’s existing mission to feed over 7 million Afghans who are hungry and malnourished. WFP depends on voluntary donations but so far is low on funding for its Afghanistan mission. Here is a series of photos taken by Silke Buhr of WFP which shows one of the drought hit areas.

This should be a wheat field, but nothing has been harvested from here this year. The poorest farmers don’t have any irrigation systems for their fields and rely entirely on rain – which came late and sparse in the winter of 2010/2011. In the 14 provinces of Afghanistan affected by the drought, farmers have lost an average of 80 percent of the rain-fed harvest. (WFP/Silke Buhr)

“I don’t remember it ever being this bad,” says Murat, the leader of the Tartarchal village in Khoram Sarbagh, Samangan province. “13 of the 15 wells in the village have dried up. 400 families are relying on two wells. There is no fodder for our animals. We have nothing left to sell or trade for food.” (WFP/Silke Buhr)

In the isolated villages of the drought-affected areas, people have to walk for hours or days to find water and fodder for their livestock. Many have sold their animals – their main source of income. Assessments show that some 2.8 million people have been affected by the drought. (WFP/Silke Buhr)

Mazuri-Bibi is in her kitchen with her two children. Here entire food stocks are here: a bag of wheat from last year’s harvest, which will last her a month. She is a widow and there is no work for her in the village, so she relies on the charity of her fellow villagers to get by. (WFP/Silke Buhr)

There is still some greenery in Aybak City, the capital of the Samangan province, but water level of the Aybak River is noticeably low. (WFP/Silke Buhr)

Young men in the drought-affected villages are leaving home to look for work to support their families. With the crop failure, there is little need for agricultural labour this year, so they have to travel to cities or neighbouring countries to look for casual work. (WFP/Silke Buhr)

WFP is preparing an emergency operation to assist some 2.4 million people with food and cash vouchers to help them get through until the next harvest. Assistance will begin with general food distributions to help people get through the harsh winter months, and then transition into food for work projects in the spring that will help people improve their food security by improving farming infrastructure, such as irrigation systems. WFP needs US$ 117 million to implement these plans. (WFP/Silke Buhr)

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November 10, 2011 · 3:34 am

Cutting Food Aid Programs Dangerous to National Security

There is much debate in Congress on how much to cut military spending. But there is another vital area of our foreign policy at risk of budget cuts too: international food aid.

Fighting hunger is not often included in talks about national security. But it should be. Remember the famous World War II slogan, “Food will win the war and write the peace.” George Marshall said, “Hunger and insecurity are the worst enemies of peace.” Food formed the foundation of the famous Marshall Plan that spurred Europe’s recovery after the war.

While some members of Congress may think it prudent now to cut food aid programs to save a few dollars, think again. On the contrary, by investing now in nutrition and agriculture development, future humanitarian disasters can be averted, thereby reducing foreign assistance in the future. Nutrition for a generation of children means better educated societies, more stable societies and the chance for economic growth.

Investing in farmers allows them to build up the capacity to better resist drought. This is what can prevent famines from taking hold.

Reducing food aid will cost lives, increase the spread of disease, and weaken societies who are fighting poverty. Congress simply cannot cut food aid, in view of the famine striking East Africa, drought leveling Afghanistan, and malnutrition on the attack in Yemen. We have to remember that Haiti and other countries need food to remain on the road to recovery.

International food aid currently accounts for less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. So in essence, you are looking at an already relatively low-funded program that is being selected for potential cuts. You could actually increase the funding for these programs past current levels and put very little strain on the budget.

International food aid programs include the Food for Peace initiative started by President Dwight Eisenhower and the McGovern-Dole program which provides school meals. These programs got their start by members of the Greatest Generation who understood that food forms the basis of all reconstruction, peace and progress.

This is a lesson Congress should not forget as it forges the budget and how to spend on an essential aspect of our national security: fighting global hunger.

Learn more about the potential budget cuts at the World Food Program USA.

Article first published as Cutting Food Aid Programs Dangerous to National Security on Blogcritics.

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November 7, 2011 · 12:39 am

Budget Debates in Congress Loom Over Yemen Crisis

Budget decisions made by the U.S. Congress in the coming weeks will have their effect on Yemen. Proposals for reducing international food aid would limit the U.S. ability to respond to the humanitarian crisis escalating in Yemen, already the poorest country in the Middle East.

Congress has proposed reducing funding for the U.S. Food for Peace plan, which in 2011 supported the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) relief operation in Sana’a City and Northern Yemen. In addition, Food for Peace funded Save the Children’s voucher initiative, also in the North. This program showed promising results and if enough funding were available could be continued and expanded.

Currently, the UN World Food Programme and UNICEF are facing funding shortages for their relief programs in Yemen. The prospect of the U.S. decreasing its food aid budget is a forerunner of disaster for an already distressed humanitarian operation.

Before this year’s political unrest and violence unfolded, Yemen was already suffering a humanitarian crisis with high rates of child malnutrition. The year’s events have made this situation worse with prices of food and other basic goods on the increase. Food is becoming out of reach.

UNICEF recently reported “food security & nutrition indicators continue to be alarmingly low. Protein intake continues to decline, with increasing numbers of households reporting no consumption of meat (74.2%), fish (65.0%), chicken (34.2%), and eggs (43.3%).”

UNICEF, which surveys households in the Sana’a, Amran, and Hodeida governorates, highlights the alarming child malnutrition crisis. UNICEF says, “More households reported decreased number of meals among children <5yrs (33.6%) compared with the previous round (22.6%), with children in rural households being the most vulnerable to meal reduction (40.4%) compared with urban households (28.6%).”

The World Food Program USA is rallying support for increasing U.S. international food aid so there can be a stronger response for the crisis in Yemen and other countries.

WFP USA states, “Despite the fact that cuts to these critically important international programs cannot possibly make a meaningful contribution to reducing the debt or balancing the budget, unfortunately they are under threat this week as the Senate debates International Affairs accounts.”

A take action page has been set up to help citizens contact their representatives in Congress to oppose the budget cuts to international food aid.

Article first published as Budget Debates in Congress Loom over Yemen Crisis at Blogcritics.

 

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October 28, 2011 · 3:26 am

Congress Needs to Invest in Nutrition at Home and Abroad

There is a lot of talk in Washington, D.C. about cutting spending. But if Congress is serious about looking for savings, then it should look to investing in child nutrition at home and abroad.

That investment will not only save us money, but will do more to build peace than any other initiative we can spend on.

Josette Sheeran, director of the UN World Food Programme, talks about how vital it is we invest in child nutrition. And how we save in the long run.

Children who do not receive proper nutrition, especially in the first thousand days of life, suffer lasting physical and mental damage. These future citizens will be less productive, less educated, and more susceptible to disease. This places a greater burden on everyone.

In the United States, hunger is a huge drain on the economy. Bread for the World reports: “A 2007 study co-authored by Harry Holzer of Georgetown University found that a conservative estimate of its cost to the economy was $500 billion per year, due largely to lower productivity and higher healthcare costs. Holzer points out that this amount has undoubtedly increased during the recession.”

In the U.S. we have to make sure that children can get access to the food they need to thrive. This includes filling in the gaps in food aid, such as the summer and after-school feeding programs.

Overseas nutrition plays a vital role in how effective our foreign policy will be. Look at the crisis points in Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, and elsewhere. All these countries have extremely high child malnutrition rates. If only more investment were put into fighting child hunger, steps could be taken toward peace and economic development.

Right now, though, Congress is proposing reducing international food aid as part of its budget cutting. Yet these programs currently make up less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. So even getting rid of them entirely would do almost nothing to solve the debt crisis. Reducing them will damage our foreign policy.

If Congress cuts food aid, they will essentially be increasing the burden on American taxpayers down the road. Hunger and malnutrition breed instability, disease, and even conflict. All these come with a price tag.

But if we make enough investment in nutrition, we can save many a child and country from despair, and form future partnerships in peace and trade.

Article first published as Want to Cut Spending and Build Peace? Invest in Child Nutrition on Blogcritics.

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October 22, 2011 · 3:10 am

Is Anyone Paying Attention to Food Shortages in Afghanistan?

This a file photo of a girl during class in an accelerated learning center in Balkh Province in Northern Afghanistan. The province she lives in has now been struck by massive drought which is causing severe food shortages. The UN says the Balkh Province has one of the highest rates of "severe food insecurity." (Photo: Mats Lignell / Save the Children)

As drought and food shortages have struck Afghanistan, there are alarming reports of child malnutrition. A survey by the charity Oxfam Novib in two drought-affected provinces (Faryab and Saripul) showed global acute malnutrition (GAM) in nearly 14 percent of small children. The global emergency threshold number is 15 percent.

A study by the aid agency Medair showed GAM rates of 30 percent for children 6-59 months in the Badakhshan Province in northeast Afghanistan.  This is a high number of children threatened with such poor nutrition that they face lasting physical and mental damage.

The charity Save the Children is taking action by helping community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) in drought-ravaged northern Afghanistan. This includes providing the miracle peanut paste Plumpy’nut to save small children from the potentially deadly effect of malnutrition. Funding will be crucial to Save the Children so it can carry out this work.

Save the Children is also starting a cash-for-work program in Faryab and Saripul to help families struggling with high food prices and unemployment. The U.S. Food for Peace program is sponsoring this initiative. It could not come at a more critical time.

The United Nations says: “The drought has added burden to an already volatile and impoverished country with considerable challenges and unacceptably high rates of malnutrition.” The UN just issued an appeal for $142 million for drought relief. Even before this disaster began to strike, the UN was low on funding for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

The drought and resulting food shortages place even further strain on an already weakened country. The United Nations reports that “even in normal times Afghanistan has high malnutrition rates with 59% and 9% of under five (U5) children being stunted and wasted, respectively, and 72% of children 6-59 months, 48% of non-pregnant women and 18% of adult men being iron-deficient.”

This malnutrition rate among children is coupled with a lack of education. The UN states there is a “silent crisis of the 42% (5,000,000) children who are not in school due to poverty and vulnerability. More children will be affected by the drought.”

The country already has many street children who are forced to beg for food and other basics. The drought may very well increase the ranks of children forced into this kind of desperation.

What will come next, without robust intervention, will be a steady deterioration within Afghanistan. It is already under way. The charity CARE reports that in the provinces of Jawzjan and Balkh, 80 percent of farmland is unusable because of the drought. People are being forced from their homes in search of food and new jobs to support themselves.

World Vision, working in Ghor and Badghis provinces, finds that “the drought has already severely affected households in these regions where many water sources are running out, children started to get small jobs instead of going to school to improve their family income, while some households started to sell their assets to buy food.”

When food safety nets are not in place, one thing leads to another. Families get forced into desperate actions. If they sell assets to get food today, it also means fewer resources for their livelihood tomorrow. Children may drop out of school and thus sacrifice their future. This is what is happening in Afghanistan. When funding is low for aid agencies, it means there is nothing for the poor to fall back on.

The UN World Food Programme, for instance, had to severely cut back its school meals program because of low funding from the international community. So that is one less safety net in place.

The international community will need to act quickly to support aid agencies working to bring relief and long-term solution to Afghans.

The Afghan people will never be able to make progress if they are constantly fighting off one shock after another. It’s not until there is solid respite from shocks that real development can take place. This all starts in the area of food and nutrition. For without healthy children, there is no road to peace and progress in Afghanistan.

Article first published as Is Anyone Paying Attention to Food Shortages in Afghanistan? on Blogcritics.

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October 15, 2011 · 2:33 am

Drew Brees Named WFP Ambassador Against Hunger

Quarterback Drew Brees of the Saints has been named WFP Ambassador Against Hunger (US Navy Photo)

With a hunger crisis engulfing nearly one billion people worldwide, leaders need to step up. Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints is doing just that.

Brees has been named an ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the largest food aid organization. WFP, which fights hunger in over 70 countries, is a UN agency that depends entirely on voluntary donations.

Bettina Luescher of WFP says, “We are thrilled to welcome Drew Brees to join WFP’s team as our US National Ambassador Against Hunger. The very same qualities that have brought him success, both on and off the football field, will make him an incredibly powerful and effective advocate for the hungry poor.”

Brees, the 2010 Super Bowl MVP, is urging support for famine relief in the Horn of Africa.

Severe drought, coupled with conflict, has caused massive food shortages in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and other parts of East Africa. WFP is the lead agency in fighting the famine which has put over 13 million people at risk of starvation. Children are suffering from severe malnutrition and thousands have already perished. Many can still be saved if relief efforts are supported.

Brees’ advocacy will be critical in keeping focus on the crisis which will extend for many more months until harvests can improve.

Brees says, “Right now, millions of people are at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa. As the father of two, it’s hard for me to imagine what it must be like for parents to watch helpless as their children suffer.”

WFP is currently short over $200 million for its East Africa relief mission. At the same time, severe food shortages are also being reported in Afghanistan, Sudan, and many other corners of the globe. WFP faces funding shortages in these areas as well and has been forced to scale back child feeding programs.

Global hunger issues struggle to get the media spotlight. Even the famine in East Africa, which was one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in decades, failed to attract a great deal of media attention when the story broke this summer.

Food ambassadors like Drew Brees are desperately needed right now to spread the word, and take the lead in sounding the alarm for this massive hunger crisis.

Visit the Horn of Africa donation page.

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