WFP launches food initiative

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday launched its first major
food supply operation in response to the drought in Tajikistan, WFP
sources in the capital Dushanbe told IRIN on Wednesday. According to
the WFP country director, Bouchan Hadj-chikh, the emergency distribution
of food, which would be carried out all over Tajikistan, was initiated
in the Tajik southern border district of Pyandj, an area he referred to
as “the poorest of the poor.” Distribution of food there would be
completed by January, providing those affected with two months of food.
Tuesday’s WFP drought intervention is in addition to the agency’s other ongoing activities in Tajikistan.

The UN estimates some 1.2 million people are severely affected by the
drought in the Central Asian country and conditions look set to worsen
unless additional assistance is found soon. Hadj-chikh told IRIN they
had a shortfall of exactly 76 percent. “We need 127,821 mt of wheat
and yet current pledges are only 30,427 mt, leaving us a shortfall of
97,384 mt. If we don’t have a reaction from donors soon, it will become
increasingly difficult to help the people here,” he said. “This
situation needs to be urgently rectified or we could face a far more
serious problem in the future.”