Maravi

Zambia among WFP's biggest food suppliers

Zambia among WFP's biggest food suppliers
By Chibaula Silwamba
Thursday August 30, 2007 [04:00]

ZAMBIA is one of the countries that has sold the highest amount of food to the World Food Programme (WFP) in southern Africa in the last five years. According to a press statement released by the WFP southern African regional office in Johannesburg, Zambia sold 285,000 tonnes to the WFP over the last five years at a cost of US$ 62 million.

“Over the past five years, WFP has bought food in South Africa (1,275,000 tonnes; US$259 million), Zambia (285,000 tonnes; US$62 million), Malawi (203,000 tonnes; US$46 million), Mozambique (125,000 tonnes; US$29 million),” the WFP stated, “Lesotho (81,000 tonnes; US$18 million), Namibia (25,000 tonnes; US$7 million), Zimbabwe (20,500 tonnes; US$7 million) and Swaziland (5,500 tonnes; US$1 million).”

The WFP stated that it had bought more than two million tonnes of food on local markets in southern Africa in the last five years - the equivalent of providing a full food basket to 12 million hungry people the whole year.
WFP executive director, Josette Sheeran said the agency had already bought more food in Malawi and Mozambique this year than ever before and, given additional cash contributions, purchases could also hit record levels in Zambia.

“These purchases have provided WFP with the means to help millions of needy people,” said Sheeran from the WFP’s headquarters in Rome in Italy. “At the same time, buying local has been both cost efficient as well as extremely effective in supporting small-scale farmers and stimulating local agricultural economies.”
She said the local purchase benefited small-scale farmers and traders.

“It really is a win-win situation because local purchases benefit surplus-producing small farmers and traders, while ensuring that WFP can provide those in need in those countries and elsewhere in southern Africa with sufficient food in time,” said Sheeran.
The WFP stated that it had spent almost US$430 million in southern Africa since 2002.

“The funds were used to purchase 2,020,000 metric tonnes of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, corn-soya blend, salt and sugar in eight countries across the region, mainly South Africa, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique,” the UN food agency stated.

The WFP stated that it was currently focussing its procurement on countries that enjoyed good harvests in 2007 such as Zambia, Mozambique and particularly Malawi, which has a cereal surplus of over one million tonnes this year.

“With parts of southern Africa facing severe food shortages once again, WFP is aiming to assist over four million vulnerable people across the region before the next main harvest in April 2008.

WFP is currently scaling up its operations in the worst-affected countries, particularly Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland,” the WFP stated. While the bulk of the two million tonnes bought over the last five years in southern Africa was distributed to people hit by a succession of crises in the region, WFP also used some of it to assist vulnerable people facing food shortages in other countries across the continent, including Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Niger and Somalia.”

The WFP stated that additional donations were urgently required to ensure that WFP reaches all of its targeted beneficiaries in southern Africa over the next seven months.

“Whenever possible, future cash contributions will be used to purchase food either locally or regionally,” stated WFP.

Labels: WFP

posted by MrK @ 4:32 AM