WFP Buys Over 2 Million Tons Of Food On Local Southern Africa Markets

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has
bought
more than two million tons of food on local markets in Southern Africa
in
the last five years - the equivalent of providing 12 million hungry
people
with a full food basket for an entire year.



The food agency announced that it has spent almost US$430
million
since Southern Africa was first hit by recurring food crises in 2002.
The
funds were used to purchase 2,020,000 metric tons of cereals,
pulses,
vegetable oil, corn-soya blend, salt and sugar in eight countries
across
the region, mainly South Africa, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.



"These purchases have provided WFP with the means to help millions of
needy
people," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, speaking from
the
agency's headquarters in Rome.



"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."



Sheeran said WFP has 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.



"It really is a win-win situation," she added, "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."



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.



While the bulk of the two million tons 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.



More than half the food was produced in or bought from South
African
companies. However, WFP is 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
tons
this year.



Additional donations are 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.



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




WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: on average, each year, we
give food to 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 58 million hungry children, in 80 of the world's poorest
countries. WFP - We Feed People.


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