Wednesday, April 16, 2008
AFP and Xinhua
A United Nations agency may be compelled to cut rations feeding more than a million people in troubled Mindanao in southern Philippines because of soaring world food prices, it warned on Tuesday.
The World Food Program has just 4,000 tons of rice left in its warehouse in conflict-hit Mindanao region, a supply which will only last about two months, said Alghassim Wurie, the agency’s deputy country director. Rice is the staple of the 86 million Filipinos, which include the Muslim minority in the region.
If the UN agency fails to get more funds, it may be forced to “cut rations and the most affected would be women and children,” Wurie warned.
“We are appealing for the donor community, the governments, and the private-sector companies to help us raise enough money to enable us to deliver support,” Wurie told Agence France-Presse.
On Sunday, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund urged donors to take immediate action in helping countries seriously affected by the surging world food prices. World Bank President Robert Zoellick called on the international community, in particular, “to put our money where our mouth is” and act now to help hungry people.
Wurie said the World Food Program will need $500 million in extra worldwide funds this year due to rising food prices, with $19 million needed in immediate “operational funding” for Mindanao. The region, the Philippines’ second-largest island grouping, has been wracked by Muslim and communist insurgencies for more than three decades. Luzon is the biggest island grouping, and the Visayas, the third largest.
The UN agency fed some 1.6 million people in Mindanao last year, most of them women and children in five central Mindanao provinces, which are among those torn by the Muslim separatist rebellion.
The World Food Program runs a novel food-for-education program in the southern region, where children are enticed to return to schools in exchange for rice rations to their families.
It also helps feed families displaced by the insurgencies in what is reputedly the poorest among the three island groupings.
The nongovernment Peace and Equity Foundation seemed to have validated the perceived poverty in Mindanao.
Early this week, it published a “national poverty map” identifying 10 provinces as the poorest in the Philippines. Six of them are in Mindanao—Basilan, Maguindanao, Sarangani, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga del Norte. Three are in the Visayas—Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, and Western Samar—and one is in Luzon—Masbate.
Another UN agency, Unicef, also warned that the increase in food prices is leading not only to empty stomachs but also empty classrooms in poor countries as parents send their children to work rather than school.
The higher prices are making families “reduce their budget, to cut down on education, and to remove their children from school to make them work,” Veronique Taveau, spokesman for the UN children’s agency, said also on Tuesday.
She added that the organization was “extremely concerned” by the price increases.
The impact of higher food prices is particularly marked in poor countries where 75 percent of a family’s revenues go to food, compared to rich countries where just 15 percent of a household’s income is spent on meals.
A drop in school attendance is already being observed in Nepal, said World Food Program spokesman Christiane Berthiaume.
The country is particularly vulnerable as it depends on food imports from China and India, which are restricting exports, added Berthiaume.
In many countries, the only warm meal children get in a day is the meal served in school canteens, she said.
In Cambodia, the World Food Program was also forced to suspend its food distribution to school canteens as its local suppliers decided to drop their contracts with the group.
“They [local suppliers] prefer to sell elsewhere at a higher price,” said Berthiaume.
The UN agency distributes 450,000 meals a day in Cambodian school canteens at 25 cents per week, per child.
Food security has become a major concern in recent weeks as supplies of basic commodities have dwindled in the face of soaring demand, triggering riots and outbreaks of violence from Haiti to Indonesia.
The World Bank also on Sunday said a doubling of food prices over the past three years could push 100 million people in developing countries further into poverty. It urged developed nations to step up and tackle the issue.
The World Food Program has just 4,000 tons of rice left in its warehouse in conflict-hit Mindanao region, a supply which will only last about two months, said Alghassim Wurie, the agency’s deputy country director. Rice is the staple of the 86 million Filipinos, which include the Muslim minority in the region.
If the UN agency fails to get more funds, it may be forced to “cut rations and the most affected would be women and children,” Wurie warned.
“We are appealing for the donor community, the governments, and the private-sector companies to help us raise enough money to enable us to deliver support,” Wurie told Agence France-Presse.
On Sunday, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund urged donors to take immediate action in helping countries seriously affected by the surging world food prices. World Bank President Robert Zoellick called on the international community, in particular, “to put our money where our mouth is” and act now to help hungry people.
Wurie said the World Food Program will need $500 million in extra worldwide funds this year due to rising food prices, with $19 million needed in immediate “operational funding” for Mindanao. The region, the Philippines’ second-largest island grouping, has been wracked by Muslim and communist insurgencies for more than three decades. Luzon is the biggest island grouping, and the Visayas, the third largest.
The UN agency fed some 1.6 million people in Mindanao last year, most of them women and children in five central Mindanao provinces, which are among those torn by the Muslim separatist rebellion.
The World Food Program runs a novel food-for-education program in the southern region, where children are enticed to return to schools in exchange for rice rations to their families.
It also helps feed families displaced by the insurgencies in what is reputedly the poorest among the three island groupings.
The nongovernment Peace and Equity Foundation seemed to have validated the perceived poverty in Mindanao.
Early this week, it published a “national poverty map” identifying 10 provinces as the poorest in the Philippines. Six of them are in Mindanao—Basilan, Maguindanao, Sarangani, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga del Norte. Three are in the Visayas—Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, and Western Samar—and one is in Luzon—Masbate.
Another UN agency, Unicef, also warned that the increase in food prices is leading not only to empty stomachs but also empty classrooms in poor countries as parents send their children to work rather than school.
The higher prices are making families “reduce their budget, to cut down on education, and to remove their children from school to make them work,” Veronique Taveau, spokesman for the UN children’s agency, said also on Tuesday.
She added that the organization was “extremely concerned” by the price increases.
The impact of higher food prices is particularly marked in poor countries where 75 percent of a family’s revenues go to food, compared to rich countries where just 15 percent of a household’s income is spent on meals.
A drop in school attendance is already being observed in Nepal, said World Food Program spokesman Christiane Berthiaume.
The country is particularly vulnerable as it depends on food imports from China and India, which are restricting exports, added Berthiaume.
In many countries, the only warm meal children get in a day is the meal served in school canteens, she said.
In Cambodia, the World Food Program was also forced to suspend its food distribution to school canteens as its local suppliers decided to drop their contracts with the group.
“They [local suppliers] prefer to sell elsewhere at a higher price,” said Berthiaume.
The UN agency distributes 450,000 meals a day in Cambodian school canteens at 25 cents per week, per child.
Food security has become a major concern in recent weeks as supplies of basic commodities have dwindled in the face of soaring demand, triggering riots and outbreaks of violence from Haiti to Indonesia.
The World Bank also on Sunday said a doubling of food prices over the past three years could push 100 million people in developing countries further into poverty. It urged developed nations to step up and tackle the issue.
1 comment:
Go ahead, Ah Khmer-Yuon, try your luck like in Haiti!
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