WFP to provide food for 53,000 people in the south

The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an operation to provide food for people affected by poor harvests during the last agricultural season in four prefectures in southern Chad. Under an agreement signed on 1 September by Chadian Agriculture Minister Moctar Moussa and WFP Representative in N'djamena Mamo Desta, the food will be distributed to more than 53,000 people in Tandjile, Mayo Kebbi, Logone Oriental and Logone Occidental. The beneficiaries will get food rations of sorghum and niebe - a local bean - for 45 days. Most will be female heads of households with children, widows living alone, elderly people without children of working age and handicapped persons, WFP reported. The aid, valued at over US $1.2 million, is part of a US $23-million WFP project to provide people threatened by food shortages in Chad, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal.