WFP is providing first emergency food assistance to families in southern Laos where Typhoon Ketsana, the same one that hit the Philippines on September 26, has caused more severe floods, this time affecting some 250,000 people.
WFP has provided eleven metric tons of rice and 3,200 cans of fish to meet the energy and nutritional needs of more than 3,000 flood victims in the worst hit areas of southern Laos . More rice and canned fish are already on the way to the crisis zone.
These initial food distributions will be followed by a larger scale emergency response to meet the needs of all affected families.
Sekong and Attapeu areas were hit hardest by the Ketsana, which arrived in Laos on Wednesday, destroying crops, depleting vital food stocks and impacting some 250,000 people.
"Lost everything"
“People have lost everything: shoes, clothes, food, household items,” said Hyunjung Kim, WFP Head of Sub-office in Saravane, after joining a government helicopter flight over Kaleum and Lamarm districts on Friday.
In Attapeu, more than 90 per cent of land has been flooded. Out of a total population of 117,000 people, 110,000 are affected and hundreds of homes are submerged.
“There is water as far as the eye can see. Rivers are converging across roads now,” reported Caitlin Makin, Head of WFP sub-office in the provincial capital. “We are ready to provide food stored at our office as soon as the flood waters recede,” she added.
Latest disaster for region
WFP is working in close cooperation with the Lao government to assess the emergency needs and provide food assistance quickly. The agency is also soliciting funding from donors to assist in this urgent relief effort.
This is the latest natural disaster in South East Asia after weeks of heavy rains and tropical storms continue to plummet several countries in the region, including the Philippines, where an estimated 3 million people have been affected by severe flooding and more than a million have fled their homes.
“We are extremely concerned about people getting back on their feet following such devastating destruction,” said WFP’s executive director, Josette Sheeran.
Showing posts with label WFP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WFP. Show all posts
Smallholder farmers begin to connect with markets
Smallholder farmers in Zambia, where WFP is working with the Agricultural Commodity Exchange to help farmers sell their produce. Photo: Laura Melo/WFPIn the first year of an initiative funded mainly by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, 42,000 smallholder farmers all over the world have been involved in selling food to World Food Programme (WFP) through the 'Purchase For Progress' pilot programme.
Faso Jigi, a federation of farmers’ associations in Mali, scored a first this year. Its 2,500 members were finally able to participate and win a tender to sell 600 metric tons (MT) of cereals to WFP.
“This year the sale was quick, they paid us promptly and we made a good profit. If they do the same after the next harvest it will be a good thing,” said 60-year-old Mamadou Traoré, a longtime member of Faso Jigi.
Up to now most farmers in Mali – particularly those with small plots and low incomes – were unable to meet the requirements of WFP tenders. Faso Jigi made its breakthrough largely because of changes in tender procedures brought in by Purchase for Progress (P4P). Under the pilot programme, WFP actively looks for bids from farmers organisations and is willing to purchase small quantities.
Engage in markets
P4P was launched a year ago to improve smallholders’ ability to engage in and benefit from agricultural markets. The starting point is the agency’s purchasing power, part of which can be used to support smallholder farmers as they produce and sell their staple commodities.
Supported by the P4P framework, poor farmers – most of whom are women – can boost their incomes and see how to connect to markets in general. Overall, 21 countries have been selected to pilot this approach over five years.
Since its launch in September 2008, P4P has purchased food commodities from 30 farmers' organisations with some 42,000 members. Overall, in 2009, WFP expects to buy up to 55,000 MT of food from smallholder farmers – either directly from farmer organisations or through other marketing platforms such as warehouse receipts systems or commodity exchanges. More than 5,400 farmers have also been trained in a variety of skills like basic management, farming techniques, quality control and post-harvest handling.
Expertise of partners
WFP is not alone in this enterprise. It relies on the expertise of partners that include governments, international organisations and the private sector. They provide technical skills, training, facilitate access to inputs and credit.
WFP has started to use a range of procurement approaches tailored to benefit smallholder farmers more directly. In Zambia, WFP is working with the Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ZAMACE) to help farmers sell their produce; in Uganda and Tanzania it is buying through warehouse receipts systems; in Guatemala, rather than buying directly from farmers, WFP links them with the manufacturer of Vitacereal, a locally produced and blended food. WFP buys and distributes Vitacereal to its beneficiaries.
With P4P, WFP is turning local procurement into an effective tool to address global hunger. Its vision is that by 2015, agricultural markets will have developed in such a way that many more low-income or smallholder farmers will produce food surpluses, sell them at a fair price and increase their incomes. With this cash, the farmers are then able to purchase services such as education and healthcare that improve their livelihoods.
Faso Jigi, a federation of farmers’ associations in Mali, scored a first this year. Its 2,500 members were finally able to participate and win a tender to sell 600 metric tons (MT) of cereals to WFP.
“This year the sale was quick, they paid us promptly and we made a good profit. If they do the same after the next harvest it will be a good thing,” said 60-year-old Mamadou Traoré, a longtime member of Faso Jigi.
Up to now most farmers in Mali – particularly those with small plots and low incomes – were unable to meet the requirements of WFP tenders. Faso Jigi made its breakthrough largely because of changes in tender procedures brought in by Purchase for Progress (P4P). Under the pilot programme, WFP actively looks for bids from farmers organisations and is willing to purchase small quantities.Engage in markets
P4P was launched a year ago to improve smallholders’ ability to engage in and benefit from agricultural markets. The starting point is the agency’s purchasing power, part of which can be used to support smallholder farmers as they produce and sell their staple commodities.
Supported by the P4P framework, poor farmers – most of whom are women – can boost their incomes and see how to connect to markets in general. Overall, 21 countries have been selected to pilot this approach over five years.
Since its launch in September 2008, P4P has purchased food commodities from 30 farmers' organisations with some 42,000 members. Overall, in 2009, WFP expects to buy up to 55,000 MT of food from smallholder farmers – either directly from farmer organisations or through other marketing platforms such as warehouse receipts systems or commodity exchanges. More than 5,400 farmers have also been trained in a variety of skills like basic management, farming techniques, quality control and post-harvest handling.
Expertise of partners
WFP is not alone in this enterprise. It relies on the expertise of partners that include governments, international organisations and the private sector. They provide technical skills, training, facilitate access to inputs and credit.
WFP has started to use a range of procurement approaches tailored to benefit smallholder farmers more directly. In Zambia, WFP is working with the Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ZAMACE) to help farmers sell their produce; in Uganda and Tanzania it is buying through warehouse receipts systems; in Guatemala, rather than buying directly from farmers, WFP links them with the manufacturer of Vitacereal, a locally produced and blended food. WFP buys and distributes Vitacereal to its beneficiaries.
With P4P, WFP is turning local procurement into an effective tool to address global hunger. Its vision is that by 2015, agricultural markets will have developed in such a way that many more low-income or smallholder farmers will produce food surpluses, sell them at a fair price and increase their incomes. With this cash, the farmers are then able to purchase services such as education and healthcare that improve their livelihoods.
WFP seeks urgent assistance as Kenya sinks deeper into crisis
After the near total failure of the annual long rains in many parts of Kenya, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for more than USD230 million to provide emergency food assistance over the next six months to 3.8 million Kenyans affected by deepening drought and continued high food prices.
“Red lights are flashing across the country,” said Burkard Oberle, WFP Kenya Country Director. “People are already going hungry, malnutrition is preying on more and more young children, cattle are dying – we face a huge challenge and are urging the international community to provide us with the resources we need to get the job done.”
WFP is currently assisting 2.6 million drought-affected Kenyans with general food distributions. The Kenyan government will support the new caseload of 1.2 million people until the end of October. In order to feed all 3.8 million people for the next six months, WFP and the Kenyan government will require strong support from donors in the weeks ahead.
Many parts of the country have now experienced three or even four consecutive failed rainy seasons and conditions are expected to deteriorate further over the coming months. According to the government-led long rains assessment, the main maize harvest is projected to be 28 percent lower than the five-year average. Pasture and water for livestock are dwindling rapidly.
Some of the worst affected Kenyans have been pushed to the edge and are struggling to survive. Many are adopting extreme coping strategies, such as reducing the number of meals each day, eating cheaper and less nutritious foods, migrating to urban centres and taking on massive debt.
Acute malnutrition rates among children under five are over 20 percent in some areas – well above the 15 percent emergency threshold.
Pastoralist communities are particularly affected. As food prices remain 100 to 130 percent above normal, prices for their livestock – most of them in poor condition – have been heading in the opposite direction. The sale of one goat used to buy a 90 kilogramme bag of maize, now it might require as many as four goats in some areas.
Most pastoralists have been forced to migrate large distances with their cattle in a desperate search for pasture, leaving their wives and children without access to milk – normally such a vital part of their diet.
WFP will also expand its school meals programme by 100,000 to reach nearly 1.2 million children across the worst affected areas. The government of Kenya is also providing school meals to about half a million more children under their own school meals programme.
School meals are an effective social safety net for hard-hit communities, providing vital assistance to hungry children and ensuring they can continue their education. WFP has continued to provide school meals to over a million children in Kenya in August during the holidays, following a request by the government.
“Life has never been easy for the poor in Kenya, but right now conditions are more desperate than they have been for a decade,” said Oberle. “WFP is aiming to help almost 1 in every 10 Kenyans to cope with this serious crisis but we can’t do it without money.”
“Red lights are flashing across the country,” said Burkard Oberle, WFP Kenya Country Director. “People are already going hungry, malnutrition is preying on more and more young children, cattle are dying – we face a huge challenge and are urging the international community to provide us with the resources we need to get the job done.”
WFP is currently assisting 2.6 million drought-affected Kenyans with general food distributions. The Kenyan government will support the new caseload of 1.2 million people until the end of October. In order to feed all 3.8 million people for the next six months, WFP and the Kenyan government will require strong support from donors in the weeks ahead.
Many parts of the country have now experienced three or even four consecutive failed rainy seasons and conditions are expected to deteriorate further over the coming months. According to the government-led long rains assessment, the main maize harvest is projected to be 28 percent lower than the five-year average. Pasture and water for livestock are dwindling rapidly.
Some of the worst affected Kenyans have been pushed to the edge and are struggling to survive. Many are adopting extreme coping strategies, such as reducing the number of meals each day, eating cheaper and less nutritious foods, migrating to urban centres and taking on massive debt.
Acute malnutrition rates among children under five are over 20 percent in some areas – well above the 15 percent emergency threshold.
Pastoralist communities are particularly affected. As food prices remain 100 to 130 percent above normal, prices for their livestock – most of them in poor condition – have been heading in the opposite direction. The sale of one goat used to buy a 90 kilogramme bag of maize, now it might require as many as four goats in some areas.
Most pastoralists have been forced to migrate large distances with their cattle in a desperate search for pasture, leaving their wives and children without access to milk – normally such a vital part of their diet.
WFP will also expand its school meals programme by 100,000 to reach nearly 1.2 million children across the worst affected areas. The government of Kenya is also providing school meals to about half a million more children under their own school meals programme.
School meals are an effective social safety net for hard-hit communities, providing vital assistance to hungry children and ensuring they can continue their education. WFP has continued to provide school meals to over a million children in Kenya in August during the holidays, following a request by the government.
“Life has never been easy for the poor in Kenya, but right now conditions are more desperate than they have been for a decade,” said Oberle. “WFP is aiming to help almost 1 in every 10 Kenyans to cope with this serious crisis but we can’t do it without money.”
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