Food aid agreement with US aims at development

The United States is playing an important role in improving food security in Yemen, a local official said following a US $26 million grant of food aid from Washington. “This is a continuous programme that has been going on since 1999, whereby Yemen gets annual food aid which is sold in the Yemeni market to help finance development projects,” said Nabil Shaiban, head of the international cooperation department at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation. On Monday, the Yemeni and US governments signed an agreement for the disbursement of foodstuffs, mainly wheat, which will be sold off by the authorities to help finance other projects. “The money generated from this food programme is used to finance projects in rural development, agriculture, livestock, health and some other areas,” explained Shaiban. “It has dual objectives: to improve food security by selling food commodities to poor families, and to provide finance for development activities, which has an impact on rural development.” The United Nations World Food Programme reports that 7.9 percent of the Yemeni population regularly experience severe food insecurity and cannot always afford to buy food for themselves or their families. This means one or more family member does not eat for an entire day due to a lack of food. Shaiban described the programme as one of the more efficient and successful food aid monetisation programmes. “Yemen is a food-insecure country due to ongoing population increases,” he said. “We depend mainly on importing foodstuffs from abroad to cover our needs.” Of the funds to be generated selling these goods, some US $2.4 million have already been allocated to upgrade the Baihan hospital in the eastern governorate of Shabwa, according to the programme. There have been drastic changes in agricultural production trends in recent decades. In the early 1970s, Yemen produced nearly all of its domestic cereal requirements. By 1998, however, the country was able to meet only 26 percent of local demand, according to UNDP figures. The shortfall has been blamed mainly on dwindling water resources. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, food security is also declining in Yemen because of the under-funding of agricultural development by both the government and international donors. Yemen’s 2004 poverty reduction strategy report highlighted the low level of spending on agriculture in relation to other countries in the region. According to the report, the government spent only 2.8 percent of its budget on agriculture in 2003, despite the fact that the sector contributed some 16 percent of national GDP for that year.