By IINA
Kabul – Rabi Al Awwal 01 1429/ March 09, 2008 – The United Nation’s World Food Program (UNWFP) has started providing emergency food assistance to millions of Afghans who can no longer afford to buy their staples of wheat and wheat flour. The aid, some of it being distributed inside the capital, will reach about 2.5 million people in the next three months, WFP said in a statement. “They urgently need food to help them overcome increases in wheat prices that have exceeded 70% over the past 12 months,” said the agency’s director for Afghanistan, Rick Corsino.
Global food prices have risen by 40% since last June, making basic foodstuffs beyond the reach of poor people in many countries, the agency said. “We must take immediate action to reduce the impact of soaring food prices on poor people in Afghanistan,” said Corsino.
The country is one of the poorest in the world, with most Afghans living on less than a dollar a day. Traditional bread called naan, on which most Afghans live, eating several pieces a day, has risen from six to 10 Afghani (20 US cents) a piece in recent weeks.
WFP said it was also concerned about the coming spring thaw, especially after a particularly harsh winter, with melting snow and seasonal rain likely to threaten thousands of people, destroying farm land and killing livestock. It plans to position 15,000 tons of food in areas at greatest risk. The UN says gangs stole 410 tons of WFP food aid valued at around $350,000 in nine attacks on convoys in western Afghanistan alone last year.