WFP to provide $180 mln food aid for Bangladesh's ultra-poor

DHAKA. March 13. KAZINFORM The World Food Program will provide 180 million U.S. dollars food aid to Bangladesh to help feed some five million hard-core poor who are victims of high global cereal prices and natural disasters, leading daily The Financial Express reported on Friday.

The Bangladesh government and the UN's food agency signed the aid deal here on Thursday, paving the way for disbursement of the fund under the country's emergency safety net for vulnerable groups' programs, the newspaper said. "An estimated five million people will be benefited under the program," the WFP said in a statement, adding ultra-poor would be helped through family rations for malnourished children, direct relief, home ration and school snacks. "It's big boost for the country's millions of vulnerable people who are the main victims of natural disasters like cyclone and floods and high global food prices, an official of Bangladesh's finance ministry was quoted as saying. The aid follows the request by Bangladesh to the WFP for emergency food assistance in the wake of the devastating cyclone Sidr in November 2007 and last year's record food inflation during which rice price doubled amid a global supply crunch. Bangladesh, a net food grain importer, was affected badly by higher food prices in the international market last year when a shortfall in domestic production coupled with export bans by leading producers turned the situation into a major crisis. According to recent Crop and Food Supply Assessment report, jointly conducted by the FAO and WFP, an additional 7.5 million people in Bangladesh have joined the ranks of the hungry because of high food prices. A staggering 34.7 million people now consume less than 1,805 kilo-calorie per person per day, up from 27.9 million prior to the food price shock, the report said. The number of people who consume less than 2,122 kilo-calorie each day now stand at 65.3 million, the report said, adding ultra-poor are "severely food insecure" and are spending on an average 86 percent of their household income on food. The WFP is the Bangladesh largest provider of food assistance and has so far provided 14.6 million tons of food to Bangladesh over the last 34 years, Kazinform cites Xinhuanet.