Food assistance dispatched to hungry Lofa, WFP

Food packages have been dispatched to war-weary villagers near the badly hit northern provincial headquarters of Voinjama for the first time in five years, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday. The head of WFP-Liberia office Justin Bagirishya told IRIN that 11 tons of beans, bulgar wheat and vegetable oil had been sent by road to Voinjama. Distribution commenced on Thursday and aimed at supporting war-battered villagers around Voinjama town. "Before sending this food aid, we had series of meetings with the local population where they informed us that they prefer being supported to make farms, than receiving food hand outs", Bagirishya said. As part of the same programme, WFP have committed to make donations to help villagers resume farming, in what was the breadbasket for the whole country before the civil war. "The purpose is to get agricultural activities restarted by providing food to the local population as a means of supporting them make farms (…) and be self sufficient in food production," Bagirishya said. Items to build shelters will also be donated before the coming rains. "The WFP food intervention in Lofa that just begun will help to assist the population in the re-construction of shelters and school feeding programs," he added. Voinjama, 394 km north of Monrovia near Guinea, was a bustling border town prior to the civil war in the 1990. Now the market place is empty of goods and people and the town is a mass of semi-destroyed buildings over-grown with grass. Voinjama exchanged hands several times during fierce battles between loyalists of former president Charles Taylor and the main rebel group, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). Later, in April 1999, LURD launched its campaign to bring down Taylor from Voinjama. Food is in short supply in the area, and villagers told IRIN that they have to forage in the bush to find things to eat. Liberia's farming season starts from April to October, with the annual rains. WFP plans to establish a sub-office in Voinjama in the next weeks so as to extend its food aid programme across Lofa County. WFP plans to support 215 farms in the county this month, gradually increasing to 1, 775 by June.