Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will be added to 200 million dollars US President George W. Bush authorized on April 14, the State Department said in a statement.
"With this additional estimated 240 million dollars, USAID will provide emergency food aid for programs in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Haiti, Bangladesh, Somalia, Mauritania, Uganda, and Sudan" through the WFP and private voluntary organizations, it added.
The funds will bring "the total emergency food aid provided by USAID, on behalf of the American people, to 1.36 billion dollars since October 2007," the statement said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday ordered a top level task force to take on the global crisis caused by rising food prices and urged key producer nations to end export bans, during a meeting in Bern, Switzerland of the heads of 27 key international agencies.
WFP had estimated it needed 3.1 billion dollars to feed the world hungry in 2008, but has asked for an extra 755 million due to the sharp jump in food prices.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has requested 1.7 billion dollars to boost farming in the hungriest nations, as world food stocks dropped to their lowest level since 1980.
Source: AFP, April 29, 2008