USAID provides $22.3m

ISLAMABAD (APP) - The USA through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has signed an agreement worth $22.3 million to help ease the burden of high food prices on the poor in Pakistan.
The agreement was signed by Deputy Mission Director USAID/Pakistan, Joseph Williams and WFP Pakistan Representative, Wolfgang Herbinger in a ceremony here on Friday.
The objective of the programme was to benefit thousands of people who were affected by the rising price of basic food items in the country.
USAID Deputy Mission Director in Pakistan, Joseph Williams said that many of those who will benefit from this food aid are school children.
WFP Representative in Pakistan, Wolfgang Herbinger said that grant comes at a very critical time and will help WFP continue its assistance to three million needy people hit hard by the surge in food prices.
We appreciate the role of USAID as a development partner in addressing the hardships faced by the people in the country, he said.
He said that although commodity prices in international markets have declined from the peak in mid-2008, food prices in Pakistan and some other countries in the region continue to remain high, he said. Poor households, particularly in the western provinces bordering Afghanistan are badly hit, he added.
Wolfgang Herbinger said that total number of people in Pakistan falling in the category of food insecure is estimated to be around 45 million.
WFP's emergency operation in response to high food prices in Pakistan started in October 2008 with the help of USA, Saudi Arabia and Japan, he added.
During the first quarter, the programme achieved over 90 percent of its target, providing once a month a four-litre tin of edible oil to some 400,000 boys and girls for regular school attendance and a 50 kg bag of wheat flour for their parents and other family members, he added.
The current grant will enable WFP to provide another 33,730 metric tons of wheat and 4,825 metric tons of edible oil, thus continuing this programme that benefits approximately three million people in the 20 most food insecure districts in Pakistan, he said.
It may be recalled that WFP is active in Pakistan since 1968, providing assistance through various development, emergency programme and the world's largest humanitarian agency and the UN's front line agency for hunger solutions. This year, WFP plans to feed around 100 million people in 80 countries. In 2009 WFP plans to help 8m food insecure people with assistance valued at approximately $ 112m.