Te Huoy, 65, who earns money collecting beer cans, plastic bottles and other recyclables, holds out the food she has left for the next two meals for herself and two grandchildren, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, April 11, 2008. Photographer: Jason Gale/Bloomberg NewsBy Jason Gale
April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Thirteen-year-old Pin Oudam gets a free breakfast of rice, fish and yellow split peas every morning at his school in Kampong Speu, Cambodia's poorest province. Next week he won't.
The World Food Program cut off rice deliveries to 1,344 Cambodian schools last month after prices doubled and suppliers defaulted on contracts. Schools will run out of food by May 1, depriving about 450,000 children of meals, the WFP estimates.
``Over time, this will result in higher malnutrition rates and lessen the physical and mental development of these children at a critical period in their lives,'' says Paul Risley, a Bangkok-based spokesman for the United Nations agency.
Record rice prices are forcing some relief agencies to cut rations. WFP, which helped feed 960,000 people in Cambodia in January, is limiting aid to only the neediest people in the country, including tuberculosis and AIDS patients, pregnant women and babies. Yesterday, the agency said its representatives in 78 other countries were facing similar choices.
That may leave Pim with an empty stomach. His grandmother, Nov Yim, estimates she will need 180 kilograms (400 pounds) of rice to feed a family of nine until the next harvest begins in September. A 50-kilo bag costs about 150,000 riel ($38) and may rise further, she says.
``At those prices, I can only afford half of what I will need,'' says Yim, 61. ``Without the extra rice, my children and grandchildren will go hungry.''
Suppliers Renege
The WFP was forced to end the Cambodian school program because suppliers didn't honor contracts to deliver 4,000 tons of rice at $390 to $450 a ton, says Thomas J. Keusters, the agency's representative in Cambodia. Other local dealers quoted prices of $620 a ton that were out of the agency's reach, he says. A year ago, the WFP paid about $260.
The program aims to keep kids in primary school and prevent them from being dragged into the workforce or prostitution.
About 69 percent of the children in Kampong Speu province, 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Phnom Penh, leave school before completing the sixth grade.
Te Huoy, 65, doesn't want that to happen to the two grandchildren, ages 4 and 14, she's raising in a Phnom Penh slum.
Huoy earns 3,000 to 5,000 riel a day selling empty beer cans and other garbage from the streets of the capital and says it's barely enough to pay for rice, fish and sausages. She spends three-fourths of her income on food, up from half six months ago.
``I'm already old and will die soon,'' says Huoy, who never received an education. ``My hope is that my grandchildren can continue to go to school.''
Rising Budget
The WFP originally budgeted $3.4 billion to feed 73 million people worldwide this year. Last month, it appealed for an additional $500 million to cover higher food costs. That shortfall was revised to $756 million this week.
In Sri Lanka, two of the Rome-based aid agency's suppliers defaulted on contracts in the past 10 days, Risley says. In East Timor, where the government supplies rice to the WFP, authorities haven't been able to purchase the cereal from Vietnam because of a ban on exports from that country.
Other relief agencies are also feeling the pinch.
Net food aid flows have been declining for more than a decade, and subprime mortgage losses that led to 1.5 million home foreclosures in the U.S. last year may reduce cash donations, says Chris Conrad, a director of World Vision International's food programming group in Johannesburg.
Global food aid deliveries dropped to 6.7 million tons in 2006 from a high of 17.3 million tons in 1993, according to a 2007 report from the WFP.
``The pie is getting smaller,'' Conrad says. ``For years, everybody was saying the U.S. or other developed economies could feed the world. I don't think they can anymore.''
Exports Banned
In Cambodia, retail rice prices stabilized at about 1,800 riel a kilo, up from 1,300 riel normally, after the government banned exports last month, says Khiev Bory, a deputy director in the Ministry of Planning. Cambodia's farm ministry predicts a rice surplus of 1.48 million tons this year.
``Rice is available in Cambodia,'' Bory says. ``No problem.''
While there is enough food in some parts of the country, it's too expensive for most poor people, Conrad says. Grandmother Yim says she pays about 67 percent more for her rice than the price quoted by Bory.
Rice accounts for almost two-thirds of the calories consumed by Cambodia's 14 million people.
In 2005, Cambodians had a life expectancy of 58 years, the lowest in Asia, and more than a quarter of adults were illiterate, according to the UN's 2007-2008 Human Development Report. Some 37 percent of children under 5 were stunted because of poor nutrition and 7 percent suffered from malnutrition.
``We have the silent tragedy of children who are malnourished because they don't get enough food in their growing years,'' says Sharon Wilkinson, Geneva-based Care International's country director for Cambodia who oversees more than $8 million in aid projects. ``We are looking at a growing disaster.''
The World Food Program cut off rice deliveries to 1,344 Cambodian schools last month after prices doubled and suppliers defaulted on contracts. Schools will run out of food by May 1, depriving about 450,000 children of meals, the WFP estimates.
``Over time, this will result in higher malnutrition rates and lessen the physical and mental development of these children at a critical period in their lives,'' says Paul Risley, a Bangkok-based spokesman for the United Nations agency.
Record rice prices are forcing some relief agencies to cut rations. WFP, which helped feed 960,000 people in Cambodia in January, is limiting aid to only the neediest people in the country, including tuberculosis and AIDS patients, pregnant women and babies. Yesterday, the agency said its representatives in 78 other countries were facing similar choices.
That may leave Pim with an empty stomach. His grandmother, Nov Yim, estimates she will need 180 kilograms (400 pounds) of rice to feed a family of nine until the next harvest begins in September. A 50-kilo bag costs about 150,000 riel ($38) and may rise further, she says.
``At those prices, I can only afford half of what I will need,'' says Yim, 61. ``Without the extra rice, my children and grandchildren will go hungry.''
Suppliers Renege
The WFP was forced to end the Cambodian school program because suppliers didn't honor contracts to deliver 4,000 tons of rice at $390 to $450 a ton, says Thomas J. Keusters, the agency's representative in Cambodia. Other local dealers quoted prices of $620 a ton that were out of the agency's reach, he says. A year ago, the WFP paid about $260.
The program aims to keep kids in primary school and prevent them from being dragged into the workforce or prostitution.
About 69 percent of the children in Kampong Speu province, 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Phnom Penh, leave school before completing the sixth grade.
Te Huoy, 65, doesn't want that to happen to the two grandchildren, ages 4 and 14, she's raising in a Phnom Penh slum.
Huoy earns 3,000 to 5,000 riel a day selling empty beer cans and other garbage from the streets of the capital and says it's barely enough to pay for rice, fish and sausages. She spends three-fourths of her income on food, up from half six months ago.
``I'm already old and will die soon,'' says Huoy, who never received an education. ``My hope is that my grandchildren can continue to go to school.''
Rising Budget
The WFP originally budgeted $3.4 billion to feed 73 million people worldwide this year. Last month, it appealed for an additional $500 million to cover higher food costs. That shortfall was revised to $756 million this week.
In Sri Lanka, two of the Rome-based aid agency's suppliers defaulted on contracts in the past 10 days, Risley says. In East Timor, where the government supplies rice to the WFP, authorities haven't been able to purchase the cereal from Vietnam because of a ban on exports from that country.
Other relief agencies are also feeling the pinch.
Net food aid flows have been declining for more than a decade, and subprime mortgage losses that led to 1.5 million home foreclosures in the U.S. last year may reduce cash donations, says Chris Conrad, a director of World Vision International's food programming group in Johannesburg.
Global food aid deliveries dropped to 6.7 million tons in 2006 from a high of 17.3 million tons in 1993, according to a 2007 report from the WFP.
``The pie is getting smaller,'' Conrad says. ``For years, everybody was saying the U.S. or other developed economies could feed the world. I don't think they can anymore.''
Exports Banned
In Cambodia, retail rice prices stabilized at about 1,800 riel a kilo, up from 1,300 riel normally, after the government banned exports last month, says Khiev Bory, a deputy director in the Ministry of Planning. Cambodia's farm ministry predicts a rice surplus of 1.48 million tons this year.
``Rice is available in Cambodia,'' Bory says. ``No problem.''
While there is enough food in some parts of the country, it's too expensive for most poor people, Conrad says. Grandmother Yim says she pays about 67 percent more for her rice than the price quoted by Bory.
Rice accounts for almost two-thirds of the calories consumed by Cambodia's 14 million people.
In 2005, Cambodians had a life expectancy of 58 years, the lowest in Asia, and more than a quarter of adults were illiterate, according to the UN's 2007-2008 Human Development Report. Some 37 percent of children under 5 were stunted because of poor nutrition and 7 percent suffered from malnutrition.
``We have the silent tragedy of children who are malnourished because they don't get enough food in their growing years,'' says Sharon Wilkinson, Geneva-based Care International's country director for Cambodia who oversees more than $8 million in aid projects. ``We are looking at a growing disaster.''
13 comments:
i encourage cambodian people to work hard and not to depend too much on handouts or freebies. leave that for only the neediest, please. i encourage everyone to grow vegetables and other food crops to feed themselves and their family or for selling at the local market, especially for poor people. help like this is only temporary and for the most needy ones only, not for everybody. thank you.
cambodian people like these poor families could become self-sufficient with help from gov't and the UN, however, don't keep on depending on free stuff all the time. there are so many ways to make a living out there; just look around for ideas to get started.
I hate to say this, but the woman in the picture looks very skinny from malnutritions or being infected with parasites. I hope someone from the ministry of health can go to check her and her village out before it's too late.
The rich nations such as United States, Japan, and European...spend about 20% of their income for food but poor nation such Cambodia spend about 80% of their income on food! Most dirt poor Cambodian people earn about 30 to 40 dollars a month!
It is such a pain in the heart to see some stupid rich Cambodian people continue to blame their own people for not living like the rich people! Please try to understand that no people want to born to this Earth want to be poor and hungry!
This is clearly the failure of AH HUN SEN economic policy for failing to protect dirt poor Cambodian people from inflation!
Well, I read a lot on the net that elderly people in the US have a heck of a time deciding between spending on food and medicine. Can you explain that? If they only spend 20% on food, why can they get medicine with the 80% that is remainding.
To 2:28PM
I don't think you know enough to speak on the topic of the elderly people who live on fix income in America okay! American government has good programs to help those elderly people who live on fix income to help pay for drug.
What I am talking about right now is the able body of dirt poor Cambodian population who continue to work and work and 80% of their income is spending on food and let alone spend on medication and their children to go to school! Do you see the different dumb shit! I am talking about hard hit inflation on dirt poor Cambodian population here!
Hey dude, that is so unfair for you to compare the US to Cambodia that way. The US is not a war torn country like Cambodia. Thus, it's citizen shouldn't have to choose between food and medicine. If Cambodia is as rich as the US right now, no one will see that problem here.
Even after 30 years of Hun Sen Vietcong puppet government rule and Cambodia is still the same fuck up place! And many rich Cambodian people and officials still go Thailame and Vietname for all for their medical need! I never thought Cambodian officials can be so dumb, stupid, and all these above!
30 Years my arse, maybe 10 years top.
That makes a lot of sense since the CPP had been in power as the Vietcong puppet government since 1979! What different does it makes even AH HUN SEN himself belong to the CPP!
Oh well! AH HUN SEN spent 20 years sleeping with the Vietcong before he came to power? This is what I called the true Vietcong bitch! Ahhahhahahhahhah
Try again you stupid fool!
Yeah, but there were too many KR insurgency who is out of control that prevent the country from developing.... Who would want to invest in that condition?
Yeah, but there were too many Vietcong insurgency oppressing dirt poor Cambodian population too who is out of control that prevent the Cambodia from developing...Who would want to invest in Cambodia when there are thousand and thousand of Vietcong soldiers walking around with AK-47? You know that the Vietcong don't own Cambodia? Do you?
Try again you stupid fool!
It doesn't matter what insurgency it is. Fact of the matter is they made it impossible to develop the country, alright?
The Vietcong made it impossible for Cambodia to do anything!
There is no way the Khmer Rouge will disarm as long as the Vietcong soldiers still roam all over Cambodia! Until the Vietcong leave only then the Khmer Rouge will disarm and that is what exactly happens here! Now there are development and investments in Cambodia!
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