WFP awards food supply contracts to locals

Four more Rwandan suppliers have won World Food Programme (WFP) contracts to provide locally grown produce for the UN agency's aid recipients in the country, Bahre Gessesse, the agency's logistics officer in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, told IRIN on Friday. He said under the contracts, awarded on Monday, WFP would buy 1,500 mt of maize and beans worth 94.2 million Rwandan francs (some US $202,560). The food is destined for refugee camps, primary school feeding programmes, rural nutritional centres, Rwandan returnees, and a new pilot project to improve self-reliance at HIV/AIDS-affected homes. "It is expected that the local purchasing initiative will result in commodities being available for beneficiaries in a timely and cost-effective manner," WFP said. WFP says it plans to issue tenders on a weekly basis for maize and bean purchases in the coming months. The agency said it had registered 25 suppliers, and planned to issue weekly tenders for the maize and bean purchases. "We have [also] considered buying maize meal," Gessesse said.