WFP to distribute food to 252,000 flood victims

Some 252,000 Chadian flood victims and farmers suffering from a failed agricultural harvest during 1999/2000 will receive food aid from the World Food Programme, the UN body said. An agreement for the provision of relief aid to poor farmers in the prefectures of Mayo Kebby, Moyen Chari and Logone Oriental was signed in Ndjamena, the Chadian capital, on Wednesday. The beneficiaries - who include vulnerable groups such as the aged, children and the disabled - will receive 60-day rations consisting of some 135 kg of cereals, 10 kg of beans and five kg of cooking oil for each five-member family. In all, WFP says it expects to deliver some 7,000 mt of food to the needy. The operation comes under a US $23-million-dollar emergency WFP food programme for populations suffering from food deficits in Chad, Mauritania and Senegal during the 1999-2000 agricultural season. WFP said its aid would discourage rural populations from selling their farm inputs, an action that would disrupt the next agricultural season.