Hungry in Cambodia: Flood affected communities are still waiting for food assistance

20 Oct 2009
Source: Oxfam

Phnom Penh, Cambodia – The hunger period has been prolonged, and people in flood affected communities cannot wait any longer, international aid agency Oxfam warns. Food assistance is not being delivered quickly enough to the affected communities, and thousands of families who are in need of urgent food assistance are still marooned in floodwaters.

Oxfam estimates that 15,000 households are waiting for immediate food assistance, and the number is increasing rapidly as floodwaters continue to recede slowly and many more families have used up their food stocks. Some households who received food assistance earlier were also running out of food for weeks.

'People in the flood affected regions needed food a month ago, and they are still waiting for food,' said Francis Perez, Country Lead of Oxfam International in Cambodia. 'Food insecurity is getting worse in the affected communities. Government bodies and international aid agencies concerned with the current situation must start delivering food assistance now.'

About 100,000 people are affected by typhoon Ketsana which coincided with annual floods in late September and early October. The storm affected both farmers who own farmlands and those who sell their labour to work on those farms, thus depriving both groups of their livelihoods.

Normally people facing disruptions in their livelihoods in the provinces would have family members migrate to Phnom Penh and other provinces to look for work. But the cities are already flooded with unemployed workers due to the global financial storm that has ravaged the country's economy. So, that kind of coping strategy to stave off hunger may no longer be available as an option to those displaced by the floods.

Oxfam has been distributing non-food items to about 5,000 families in three hard-hit provinces: Kampong Thom, Kratie and Stung Treng. Recognizing an eminent danger of food shortages among the affected communities, Oxfam has decided to urgently distribute food items to 1,000 families in addition to its non-food assistance. Oxfam continues to coordinate relief assistance with government authorities and other agencies at the national and local levels.

Cambodia's poorest families to receive emergency food assistance

MANILA, Oct. 8 (PNA) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Cambodia’s poorest families with US$ 35 million in emergency food assistance as they struggle to cope with rising food and fuel prices.

Poor families living around the Tonle Sap Lake, and in Phnom Penh’s urban slums, will receive free rice and other food subsidies. Food will also be provided to poor children attending early childhood learning centers and primary schools.

ADB assistance will foster employment through food-for-work programs, and impoverished farmers will receive seed and fertilizer to boost crop yields.

“ADB’s assistance will help half a million of Cambodia’s poorest people stave off hunger,” said Arjun Goswami, ADB’s Country Director in Cambodia.

Over the past year rice prices in Cambodia have doubled, the price of meat and fish has risen 30 to 50 percent, and farmers have been hit hard by a doubling of fertilizer prices.

Many impoverished families are selling their household assets and taking out high interest loans in order to purchase food, fueling a downward spiral of poverty.

“Cambodian households normally spend 60 percent of their income on food, so rising food prices have had an absolutely devastating effect on the country’s poorest families,” said Mr. Goswami.

One in every three children in Cambodia are undernourished, and the current food crisis is increasing the severity and scope of the country’s child malnutrition problem.

“ADB’s assistance is particularly focused on protecting Cambodia’s children from the ravages of malnutrition, which can impair their physical and mental development and cause a range of health ailments,” said Mr. Goswami.

ADB’s emergency food aid package consists of a US$ 17.5 million grant and an additional US$ 17.5 million loan being provided at concessional rates. The Government of Cambodia will provide a further US$ 5.08 million for the project.

Broadcasters interested in obtaining video interview footage of ADB’s Country Director in Cambodia, Arjun Goswami, along with B-Roll footage, please contact Multimedia Team Leader Jason Rush: jrush@adb.org, mob: +63-920-938-6490. High quality jpeg photos are also available.