By Xinhua,
Wellington : New Zealand will contribute 9.5 million NZ dollars (7.4 million U.S. dollars) to the international response to the global food crisis, Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced on Wednesday.
The money will be the largest humanitarian contribution since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and will be delivered through the government’s aid agency NZAID.
“The impact of rising food prices on the world’s poorest people cannot be underestimated, and it is important New Zealand does what it can to assist,” Peters said in a media statement.
“The United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which focuses on feeding people in life or death situations – particularly women and children – will receive 7 million NZ dollars of the 9.5 million NZ dollars for emergency food aid. It is a global organization and will ensure our assistance gets to those who need it most,” he added.
The New Zealand government will also contribute 2.5 million NZ dollars to the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for a longer term response, aimed at assisting developing countries to make the most of their agricultural resources.
Statistics showed one child dies every five seconds from hunger related causes, and an estimated 850 million people go hungry every day. Rising food prices threaten to add millions more to the numbers.
New Zealand’s contribution will be outlined by Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton at the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food security meeting in Rome, Italy.
The cost of major food commodities has doubled over the last couple of years, with rice, corn and wheat at record highs.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has told world leaders at the summit that rich and developing nations must act together to overcome the crisis, which has already prompted riots in several countries.
Ban estimated the “global price tag” to overcome the food crisis would be 15-20 billion U.S. dollars a year and said that food supply had to rise 50 percent by the year 2030 to meet demand.
The World Health Organization calculates that 21 countries already have serious problems of malnutrition and stunted growth as a result of the food crisis.
The World Bank and aid agencies estimate soaring food prices could push as many as 100 million more people into hunger. About 850 million are already hungry.