Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

World Food Program Issues ‘Emergency Appeal’ For Funds
by Tracy Wilkinson
 Published on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 by The Los Angeles Times
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/25/7869/

ROME — With food and fuel prices soaring, the United Nations agency charged 
with feeding the world’s hungry has launched an “extraordinary emergency 
appeal” to cover costs and avoid having to cut aid, a senior official said 
Monday.0325 01 1

The World Food Program called on donor nations for urgent help in closing a 
funding gap of more than $500 million by May 1. If money doesnÂ’t arrive by 
then, Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a letter to donors, the WFP 
may be forced to cut food rations “for those who rely on the world to stand 
by them during times of abject need.”

The poorest face hunger as people around the world are being “priced out of 
the food market,” Sheeran told reporters Monday in a conference call.

Citing food prices that had ballooned 55% since June, the WFP disclosed a 
$500-million shortfall Feb. 25, and the gap has continued to grow ever since, 
Sheeran said.

WFP officials declined to put a figure on the current shortfall, saying it 
was a moving target, but experts estimated it in the range of $650 million.

The Rome-based WFP feeds at least 73 million people in nearly 80 nations with 
an annual operating budget of $2.9 billion.

“We’ve never quite had a situation where aggressive rises in food prices keep 
pricing operations out of our reach,” Sheeran said.

The WFP has issued emergency appeals in the past for natural disasters or 
wars, but never for a market-generated crisis, she said.

Letters to donors containing the new appeal for an “emergency allocation” 
were dated March 20 and sent over the weekend. Copies were made available to 
journalists.

Although the WFP has been sounding an alarm for a couple of months, the 
appeal to the donors made the warning a stark reality.

In the letter, Sheeran noted that the WFP had attempted to reduce its costs 
by turning to local and regional markets to buy up to 80% of the food it 
disburses, a share that grew by 30% over the previous year.

“This not only saves on food and transport costs but is a win for local 
farmers, helping to break the cycle of hunger at its root,” she wrote. “But 
even with our mitigation efforts, the cost of our food purchases has risen 
55% since June 2007? and an additional 20% since Feb. 25. “Such increases 
show no sign of abating any time soon.”

In addition to being hit by spiraling costs of grains and other staples, WFP 
operations have been hurt by record-high fuel prices and other transport 
costs.

Food commodities are becoming more expensive because of rising demand in 
developing countries, natural disasters and climate change, and the shift of 
millions of tons of grains to the production of biofuels.

The United States is the largest single contributor to the WFP, accounting 
for about 40% of the agencyÂ’s food and money donations, followed by the 
European Union. U.S. officials have already warned that it is likely they 
will be cutting donations to global humanitarian organizations because of 
higher costs.

Sheeran said that the people at greatest risk are those who live on $1 a day 
or less, but that officials are also bracing for what the U.N. is calling the 
“new face of hunger.” These are people who may have access to food but can no 
longer afford to buy it.

The shortfall does not take into account the anticipated swelling in the 
number of people in need. Eventually, if prices continue their ascent, the 
WFP crisis will grow even more critical.

Thus far, only one nation, Afghanistan, has made a formal request for 
additional assistance.

President Hamid Karzai in January asked the WFP to help feed an additional 
2.5 million people.

Numerous countries, however, have inquired, Sheeran said.

“We have yet to speak to any country that does not have concerns,” she said.