WFP launches food initiative

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday launched its first major food supply operation in response to the drought in Tajikistan, WFP sources in the capital Dushanbe told IRIN on Wednesday. According to the WFP country director, Bouchan Hadj-chikh, the emergency distribution of food, which would be carried out all over Tajikistan, was initiated in the Tajik southern border district of Pyandj, an area he referred to as “the poorest of the poor.” Distribution of food there would be completed by January, providing those affected with two months of food. Tuesday’s WFP drought intervention is in addition to the agency’s other ongoing activities in Tajikistan. The UN estimates some 1.2 million people are severely affected by the drought in the Central Asian country and conditions look set to worsen unless additional assistance is found soon. Hadj-chikh told IRIN they had a shortfall of exactly 76 percent. “We need 127,821 mt of wheat and yet current pledges are only 30,427 mt, leaving us a shortfall of 97,384 mt. If we don’t have a reaction from donors soon, it will become increasingly difficult to help the people here,” he said. “This situation needs to be urgently rectified or we could face a far more serious problem in the future.”