World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Sidama Elto is one of 16 cooperative unions in Ethiopia that have signed forward contracts with the WFP for the purchase of more than 28,000 metric tons of maize grown by their smallholder farmer members. The maize, which is part of 112,000 tons of food the WFP purchased in Ethiopia last year, will be used for WFP relief distributions in the country. Ten years ago, many of those farmers and their families were receiving food aid from the WFP. One of the major lessons in agricultural development over the past decade is this: Markets Matter.

Local farmers’ cooperatives in Ethiopia are beginning to deliver what is expected to be the largest amount of maize they ever sold to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), as part of a pilot project to promote small farmers’ access to local markets. “Our goal here is to support Ethiopia feeding itself,” WFP Country Director Abdou Dieng said in a press release issued today.

Here in Rajasthan (India) as in parts of Ethiopia, lack of water is the big problem. (..) In common with approaches tried by donors such as the World Food Programme in Ethiopia, Eficor asked the villagers what their priorities were. Water – or lack of it – was, unsurprisingly, a key concern. Farmers in Rajasthan have land, but often leave areas uncultivated because of the lack of water.

More than half of all Ethiopians have access to an improved source of drinking water, but the country still has much work to do if it hopes to achieve its goal of providing access to safe water and sanitation for its 83 million people by 2015, experts say.

Ethiopia is synonymous in many people's minds with drought and famine. In some parts of the country, staying alive and healthy during the dry season without food handouts is difficult. But in the Tigray region, a pioneering project to manage environmental resources - which conserves water and improves food security - is transforming the fortunes of some families. Meet two mothers who live a few hours' drive apart, but whose lives are very different. (Images courtesy WFP/Jiro Ose and Ruth Evans)

Lack of rainfall is placing Ethiopia at risk of a severe hunger crisis in the coming months. (..) School feeding vital to Ethiopia as drought revisits region. (..) Judith Schuler, WFP information officer in Ethiopia, provides us an update on where WFP's school meals program currently stands.

The story of livelihoods destroyed by cyclone and floods in 2009 represents in microcosm the threat from climate change to low-lying Bangladesh. Apart from the threat of cyclones, a more insidious problem for those living in the Sundarbans is increasing water salination, making it hard to grow even salt-resistant rice and maize. (..) Kristalina Georgieva, the EU's head of humanitarian operations, makes the case that it is no longer affordable to wait for crises to hit when it is cheaper – and the right thing to do – is to take pre-emptive action. (..) In Ethiopia, the World Food Programme is increasingly moving into development work, helping farmers to rehabilitate degraded soil.

The climatic conditions linked to the drought in the Horn in 2011 have persisted, and some early warning officials say the aid community should brace themselves for a possible re-run of last year's food crisis. (..) However, in their forecast, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says they expect the impact of the La Niña to wane over March to May 2012, which is the major rainfall period for pastoral and agricultural areas of northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, and most of Somalia, accounting for 50 - 60 percent of annual rainfall.

Last year, around 13 million people in the Horn of Africa needed food aid. Now aid agencies warn failed harvests in the Sahel, the band of desert and scrub that runs south of the Sahara, mean 12 million more people require assistance. (..) The world has more than enough food to feed itself. Redistributing it to those who lack their share is the job of large and well-funded international aid agencies, particularly the World Food Program.

Parts of Ethiopia are still reeling from the effects of recent drought, flooding, conflict or a combination of the three, resulting in increased numbers of children dropping out of school, say officials. (..) Melese Awoke, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson, said WFP and partners were trying to secure additional funding to expand the “food for education” intervention. At present, WFP is assisting at least 625,000 children in 1,186 schools in six of the regions. But the WFP intervention is under-funded, according to Melese.