World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

At the request of Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock (MINFAL), Government of Pakistan (GOP), the UN system in Pakistan fielded an inter-agency mission during 9 June and 13 July 2008, to assess the impact of price spiral and food shortages on the livelihoods and general welfare of households, particularly vulnerable and marginalized ones. Following this a subsequent inter-agency mission will be commissioned to make recommendation for medium and long term measures and assistance needed by the development partners. This
report presents the main findings of the assessment and recommends course of action for immediate and short term relief and measures to be adopted by the GOP and documents the planned donor support.

The specific objectives of the market assessment were to (i) to better understand local market structures in the earthquake affected areas; (ii) undertake a trader survey in the affected areas to analyze price changes and market issues, such as transport costs, credit availability and marketing margins; (iii) validate the preliminary findings related to markets in the assessment, particularly for urban areas, describe probable market recovery over the near term and the potential effects of food aid on local markets; and (iv) provide a markets related analysis to support programming decisions and recommend ways to monitor markets/prices in the earthquake affected areas.