World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Ernestina Martinez, a 52-year-old widow and mother of eight children, began her coffee farm a few years ago in the village Ojo de Agua in Intibucá and it produced nearly 4 Metric Tons of coffee. But the Coffee Rust plague, a fungus that affects the leaves of plants, destroyed the crops Ernestina and her children had grown with great sacrifice.

Through the Food-for-Work programme, WFP is supporting 41,810 people who were affected by the Coffee Rust in Honduras. WFP Representative, Pasqualina Di Sirio, visited affected communities to monitor donations. During her visit to the community of Ojo de Agua in Intibucá, Di Sirio met with 30 small holder coffee producers receiving food assistance.

The WFP Deputy Regional Director and Officer in Charge, Alzira Ferreira, and the Regional Director of Plan in the Americas, Roland Angerer, signed an agreement to work together to fight food insecurity to help the most vulnerable populations, especially women and children, in Latin America and the Caribbean.  

An estimated 100,000 jobs across Honduras have been lost as a result of the current Coffee Rust plague. A WFP-AHPROCAFE-IHCAFE partnership aims to assure the food security of coffee producers and their families who were left vulnerable due to the Coffee Rust.

ROME/VATICAN CITY – His Holiness Pope Francis this morning granted a private audience to Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).  The meeting took place immediately upon Cousin’s return from Syria and following her recent visit to Israel and Palestine.

With a record 45,000 people taking part and the support of 50 private companies and of the government, Honduras celebrated the 2013 edition of  the "Zero Hunger Walk"  in its capital city Tegucigalpa this weekend. The event was organized to raise awareness about hunger and malnutrition, and especially to highlight the importance of providing good nutrition during a child's first 1,000 days. 

This mission arrived in the country on 17 June following a previous visit of the First Lady of Honduras, Rosa Elena de Lobo, to Brazil. Members of this Brazilian mission were Daniel Balaban, Director of the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil, Albaxeide Peixoto, President of the School Feeding Fund in Brazil, and representatives of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, FAO and the WFP Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

After 13 years of consecutive work, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ficohsa Foundation for the Early Education of Children signed a new cooperation agreement to continue working and support of pre-school children in Honduras.

With the presence of over 150 representatives from different Honduran associations, the President of Honduras Porfirio Lobo Sosa, and the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Jacobo Regalado presented a plaque of recognition to WFP Representative Miguel Barreto for his support to agriculture in Honduras.

WFP Representative in Honduras Miguel Barreto, and the Director of Save The Children in Honduras Mariano Planells, signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen the Ministry of Health’s capacity to implement a plan for vulnerable groups, particularly during the critical period known as the "First 1,000 Days of Life."