Australia Provides A$1.6 M to WFP for Response to Food Price Inflation
Australia will provide A$1.6 million to Bangladesh to support the on-going emergency operation of United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to address the impact of high food prices on the country’s poorest people.
“I am pleased to announce this contribution for WFP’s emergency operation and hope this will help the poorest people overcome the shock of the food price inflation,” said Dr. Justin Lee, the Australian High Commissioner in Bangladesh. “Australia is concerned with the impact of food price inflation that has pushed an additional seven million people into extreme poverty. Australia will continue to focus its development assistance on lifting the extreme poor out of poverty,” Dr. Lee added.
A recent study jointly undertaken by WFP, UNICEF and Institute of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN) found that high food prices had a serious impact on household food security and nutrition. The study found that the real household income dropped by 12% and expenditure on food increased by 10% between 2005 and 2008. To cope with higher food prices, households have frequently borrowed money, resulting in spiralling debt.
Referring to the study, John Aylieff, Bangladesh Representative of WFP said, “High food prices have taken a large toll on an already highly impoverished population in Bangladesh. The global acute malnutrition rate was close to the emergency threshold even after the harvest at the end of last year. One in four households is now food insecure and the proportion of household income spent on food is the highest it has been for well over a decade.” He added, “We need to redouble efforts to support the Government in providing effective safety nets for the malnourished and food insecure. This new contribution from the Government of Australia will help WFP do just that.
To address the impact of food price inflation, WFP launched the current emergency operation in November last year to assist 5 million people. The emergency operation is providing nutrition supplementation to 250,000 pregnant and lactating mothers and children of 6 to 24 months of age to prevent acute malnutrition. It is also providing high energy biscuits to 600,000 school children to prevent drop out and maintain attendance to classes. In addition, the recovery activities under the emergency operation assist landless and marginal farmers from which a total of about 500,000 people will benefit.
For more information, please contact:
S Farhana Rahman
Political and Economic Research Officer
Australian High Commission, Dhaka
Phone: 8813105 M. Emamul Haque
Head, External Relations, WFP, Bangladesh Tel: +880-2-8116344, 8119064-73, Ext 2189, Cell: 0171-301-3983