WFP And NGOs Warn Of Looming Food Crisis Facing 2 Million Flood Victims In Burundi

The United Nations World Food Programme and non-governmental
organisations have warned that two million people hit by recent floods in
Burundi need urgent assistance until June to avert a food crisis. This
follows last week's joint appeal for 132 million USdollars by UN agencies and NGOs
for their work in Burundi during 2007.



An assessment in January led by WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) found that heavy rains and floods had destroyed 50-80
percent of the November harvest and much of January's harvest of beans,
sweet potatoes, maize, sorghum and rice across large parts of the country.



The assessment found increasing use of survival strategies with some people
cutting down to one meal a day and resorting to 'famine foods', such as
cassava leaves or bitter banana. Mortgages of fields, the sale of assets
and people being forced to leave their homes are worrying signs of an
impending major food crisis.



The late arrival of rains at the end of last year combined with cassava
disease and recent floods have had a devastating effect on the food stocks
of the poorest families in Burundi.



"All these elements are signs of a looming food crisis," said Gerard Van
Dijk, WFP Country Director in Burundi. "If we do not bring urgent help to
the most vulnerable, the consequences could be devastating for the recovery
of a country still weakened by 13 years of civil war."



Two million people are 25 percent of the country's entire population.. As
part of the UN-NGO joint appeal, WFP urgently needs US$12 million to cover
food aid requirements in Burundi until July.



Burundi's president has declared seven of the country's 17 provinces as
disaster areas because of the damage caused by flooding.



Due to a shortage of food stocks, WFP and its NGO partner, CARE, delivered
reduced food rations to 400,000 people, most of them affected by the
floods. WFP also had to cut rations by 25 percent for refugees, returnees,
Burundians expelled from Tanzania and children in its school feeding
programme.



"The floods have hit the country at the worst possible time; although peace
prevails, living conditions remain extremely difficult, with most
Burundians having to focus on just meeting their basic daily needs," said
Van Dijk.



"Given how long it takes to get food aid and other assistance to Burundi,
we have no time to waste; we need international support now in order to
help people until June."



In the most affected areas in the north and centre of the country, the
traditional 'lean season' (when food from the last harvest runs out) began
in September 2006 and will last until the end of June 2007, when the next
harvest is due.



Burundi is still emerging from 13 years of civil war that killed more than
300,000 people and displaced more than one million in the region.



WFP's NGO partners in Burundi as part of the recent UN appeal are:
Solidarites, World Vision, CARE, German Agro-Action, Caritas Burundi,
International Medical Corps and Catholic Relief Services.



The top five contributors to WFP's regular operations in Burundi so far in
2007 are: The European Union (ECHO) which has earmarked US$ 5.2 million,
the United States (US$ 2 million), Canada (US$ 1.5 million), Belgium (US$
1.4 million), Ireland (US$ 657,000) and Norway (US$ 206,000).







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



WFP Global School Feeding Campaign - For just 19 US cents a day, you can
help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school - a gift
of hope for a brighter future.



For further information please go to:
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