WFP may be forced to cut rations without further funding

A dire shortage of funds will force the World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce both rations and the number of people it is feeding in Zambia, rather than extending assistance to a total of one million people as requested by the government, the aid agency said on Tuesday. Without an immediate injection of money, "rations to thousands of people would be slashed in July", WFP said in a statement. "Women, malnourished children, the elderly and people affected by HIV/AIDS would be among those to suffer. WFP needs US $25 million to feed 820,000 people this year, but only has contributions to feed half that number," the aid agency stressed. Prolonged dry spells meant more than 1.2 million people would be unable to live off their own harvests, while new assessments showed that Zambia required more than 118,000 mt of cereals to assist them until the next harvest. The government-led Vulnerability Assessment Committee projected an increased need for food relief between July 2005 and February 2006 because of high dependency on agricultural production, particularly in rural areas, where poor rainfall has dramatically reduced crop yields. "The government of Zambia has asked WFP to target its assistance to 1 million people in light of the recent crop failure - right now we simply don't have the funding to reach these people. WFP should be feeding more than 800,000 Zambians under our current programmes, but with limited resources we're only able to reach about 500,000 people," David Stevenson, WFP Country Director for Zambia, was quoted as saying. "Even before we realised the extent of this year's poor harvest, the situation was critical. Without immediate donations from the international community we will have no food for hungry Zambians in July, let alone later in the year, when the need is going to dramatically increase," Stevenson pointed out. In 2003/04 Zambia produced a robust surplus of cereals, allowing WFP to buy 150,000 mt of food for other parts of Africa, which injected nearly US $30 million into the local economy. In a dramatic reversal, poor rainfall this year led to significant crop failure across the country, leaving many districts extremely vulnerable. WFP noted that chronic poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic had compounded the problems of these people. The aid agency, in conjunction with the government and NGOs, targeted the most vulnerable for assistance and aimed to ensure that food aid ultimately helped people become self-reliant. "Zambians helped under these programmes include orphans and children in community and basic schools; food-insecure patients receiving antiretroviral therapy; and the chronically ill though home-based care programmes. A third of all beneficiaries are involved in food-for-assets and food-for-training activities," WFP said. Stevenson added that those receiving WFP food assistance were "fighting to cope with numerous challenges and many have still not recovered from the ravages of food shortages in previous years". The elderly, child-headed households and the chronically ill - especially people affected by HIV/AIDS - were the most vulnerable. "But we can't even maintain current levels of assistance to them without the support of the international community," Stevenson remarked. WFP may need to reduce rations to 61,000 orphans and vulnerable children from July. "This will mean an end to their daily meals of porridge and will more than likely be followed by an increase in school dropouts. Others, such as 57,000 impoverished farmers and their families, together with about 104,000 malnourished children and pregnant women, will also lose WFP rations, as well as 300 people who currently receive antiretroviral treatment for AIDS and who rely on WFP food rations to ensure that the drugs are assimilated into their bodies," WFP warned. "It is tragic that we are being forced to take these drastic steps, but we really have no alternative - if the food isn't there, we can't produce it from thin air," Stevenson said. "It is imperative that we find a way to feed these people before their health and livelihoods deteriorate."