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Ethiopia: World Vision to Cut Aid Over Surging Food Prices
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The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Addis Ababa
Skyrocketing food prices coupled with increased food demand and shrinking global food stocks has forced the World Vision, one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations to cut aid to over two million people in AFRICA.
"World vision is being forced to make deep cuts in its food aid programs in 17 countries of Africa due to dramatic hikes in global food prices coupled with increased food demand and shrinking local food stocks," World Vision said in a statement.
It said this would mean that over 1.3 million children (out of a total 2 million people) are unlikely to be reached with food aid that is critical for sustaining their health if not their survival.
World Vision said it was calling on governments and non government donors to fund a shortfall over $700 million in contributions to World Vision International's largest sources of food aid in Africa World Food Programme (WFP).
Last week WFP announced that owing to lack of funds, it will cut by more than half the number of districts in drought-hit Ethiopia it serves, and appealed for $76.4 million in aid.
WFP said shortages would prevent it from providing food supplements to malnourished mothers and children.
World Vision also said it was urging the US Government, as the largest food aid donor, to release an additional $600 million in committed funding to the WFP for maintaining food aid programmes in Africa Hence, in a bid to strengthen the capacity of Ethiopia to withstand such crisis World Vision Ethiopia National Director W/ro Tenagne Lemma called on humanitarian partners to support activities being undertaken to build capacity of Ethiopian communities to respond to emergency situations, to enhance disaster assessment and preparedness capacity, and implement appropriate mitigation strategies, according to the statement.
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. "If the international community does not act swiftly, then not only will rising food prices undermine the poverty gains of the last five to 10 years, but they will ultimately put a brake on developing countries' chances for any real future development through its youngest citizens," the statement quoted Professor Wilfred Mlay, World Vision Vice President for Africa as saying.
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