Cereal stocks likely to run out - WFP

Food aid in Ethiopia is in critically short supply with cereal stocks likely to run out next month, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday. Paul Turnbull, head of WFP's emergency unit, told IRIN that only 11 percent of the requirements for 2.9 million people in March had been covered. Unless more food could be found, WFP and other charities would have to target only the very worst areas, he added. Around 130,000 mt has been pledged for this year's emergency needs, but about 400,000 mt was needed, according to figures released by the UN and the government. The shortfall comes as the government launches a new strategy to try and end the on-going dependency of millions of people on food aid. The strategy, known as the safety net programme, seeks to support 5.1 million people depending on food aid, regardless of annual harvests. A separate parallel emergency programme aims to support the 2.2 million people who will need food aid this year. By separating the "chronically hungry" with emergency needs, the government and donors believe that the underlying root causes of hunger could be tackled. Paul Herbert, from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told IRIN that it was vital to maintain support for safety nets, but not at the expense of emergency needs. "These two programmes run hand-in-hand and should not be viewed as separate," he said. Emergency food-aid needs had risen beyond the needs of 2.2 million people because 900,000 people in the Afar and Somali regions, who were to receive support under the safety nets scheme, had been included in the emergency programme. In January, Turnbull added, only 26 percent of food-aid requirements were met, while for February 90 percent of requirements may be covered. "There is a danger when the emergency is at a subliminal level, when people say two million they think somebody else can cover that," Turnbull said. "It is not an all-hands-on-deck issue." He noted that some donor countries were looking to pledge more food, but even then, stocks would only last until the middle of the year. "We don't feel we should be complacent at this point," Turnbull told IRIN. "There are contributions being worked on by some of the major donors. On the other hand, we don't seem to have had much contact with the smaller donors that normally contribute something to the emergency."