WFP moving to optimise in-country stocks

The WFP has introduced a new delivery strategy to upgrade its system of optimising its stocks of food commodities for Burundi, with most stocks to be stored at a trans-shipment centre at Isaka, Tanzania, close to the Burundi border. From Isaka, lorries can then commute to Ngozi - capital of the province of the same name, which is the agency’s distribution point for the drought and malnutrition crisis affecting northern Burundi - in a one-day return trip, OCHA reported in its latest weekly information bulletin.

The strategy will involve the transportation of food aid to Isaka by road and rail from the Kenyan port of Mombasa and the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam; a smaller amount would be channelled into Burundi from Dar es Salaam by road to Kigoma in western Tanzania, and onward by barge to Bujumbura Mairie, the report said. The agency currently has a capacity to store 100,000 mt in-country for distribution in northern provinces affected by drought and displaced people in the Bujumbura, and is in the process of constructing storage units for an extra 4,350 mt, according to the OCHA report.