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Islamabad, September 18, 2008
U.S. Provides $8.4 Million Grant in Food Aid to Assist with Food Crisis in Pakistan
Islamabad, September 18, 2008: U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson and WFP Country Representative Wolfgang Herbinger are handing over a wheat-bag to Pakistan Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Nazar Muhammad Gondal. Under the Pakistan Food Security Relief Program the WFP and other UN agencies will provide approximately 11,000 metric tons (MT) of wheat to over 1,600,000 Pakistanis, including students in 3,200 schools. |
Islamabad, September 18, 2008: The United States of America, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations World Food Program, in Pakistan, today officially announced the signing of an agreement valued at $8.4 million to help ease Pakistan's food crisis. U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson speaking at the launching ceremony said that "this program will benefit thousands of Pakistanis who are affected by the rising price of basic food items. I am particularly pleased that many of those who will benefit from this food aid are Pakistani school children."
The Government of Pakistan was represented at today's official announcement by the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Nazar Muhammad Gondal.
The United States will grant this sum to the World Food Program (WFP) and other UN agencies to provide approximately 11,000 metric tons (MT) of wheat to over 1,600,000 Pakistanis, including students in 3,200 schools. WFP will begin distributing this food aid in 12 districts in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan this month. Residents in these areas have been identified by WFP as being among the most vulnerable, as a result of the sharp increases in food prices this past year.
WFP Country Director in Pakistan, Wolfgang Herbinger said "Thank you for your support and partnership in protecting school children and families in the parts of Pakistan that are suffering most from this sudden hike in food prices in the world." The WFP, UNESCO, the federal government, provincial education departments and schools will work together to organize special Parent-Teachers-Students Days ("School Days") on which food staples, including wheat rations of 50 kg per bag, will be distributed to families three times, between now and the beginning of the next wheat harvest in March and April of 2009. These "take home" rations will serve as an incentive to the families to keep their children in school during what is traditionally an economically difficult period for poor Pakistani families.
The distribution of the wheat is tied to the WFP/UNESCO School Food Program. Under this program, families that keep their children enrolled in school receive four liters of edible oil. WFP and UNESCO will add the wheat distribution to this program. On "School Days" parents will go to the selected schools, receive training in basic health practices and the effective use of the food rations, and be encouraged to keep their children enrolled in school. This food aid will benefit 238,500 households and 265,000 boy and girl students in NWFP and Balochistan.
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