The Rome-based World Food Program said Monday it had sent a letter to governments last week requesting money by May 1 so it will not have to start cutting rations to some of the world’s most impoverished regions. WFP officials said the funding gap was growing weekly.

The head of the WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian agency, said the unprecedented situation meant some of the world’s poorest faced going hungry.

The steadily climbing cost of food means that people are “simply being priced out of food market,” Executive Director Josette Sheeran told reporters in a conference call.

The agency estimates that in Darfur alone it needs to provide emergency food for as many as 3 million people daily.

The organization gives food to as many as 70 million people worldwide.

WFP needs to buy food several months before it can get it to the hungry. If extra money does not come through before May, “depending how big the gap is ... it could be quite a dramatic effect” in how much aid can be delivered, Sheeran said.

Earlier this month, Sheeran said that the high prices of food and oil have been swelling the ranks of the hungry since last summer, and cautioned that the crisis would continue for several years.

Sheeran said that a 40 percent rise in the cost of fuel and commodities such as grain since mid-2007 have raised the cost of food and transport, causing the shortfall in the agency’s 2008 budget.

She said that the shortfall as of Feb. 25 meant the agency needs an extra US$375 million (euro243 million) for food and US$125 million (euro81 million) to transport it.

In the letter sent to donor countries, Sheeran said that WFP was trying to deal with the soaring prices by buying 80 percent of food in local and regional markets.

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click hereSharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 800 characters max

Receive China Post promos

Respond to this email