(August 3, 2009) The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it is cutting food
aid to poor countries for lack of funds. The UN agency said that it had received only
a quarter of its projected budget for 2009 from developed countries, US$ 1.8 billion
of the projected US$6.7 billion operational costs this year. Countries in Africa
and the Asia-Pacific region will be the most affected. In the Asia-Pacific region
alone it is estimated that 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger. The
WFP said that as of 1 July it was forced to halve food rations provided to tuberculosis
patients in Cambodia and suspend a programme to provide free breakfasts to children
at 1,344 Cambodian primary schools because of higher rice prices. North Korea is another
country being affected. Here, around four million people have been cut from distribution
lists, WFP spokesman Marcus Prior said. The same thing is true for Bangladesh where
the WFP has not been able to start emergency assistance programmes for 1.75 million
of the most vulnerable people already suffering from acute malnutrition. The UN WFP
relies for 95 per cent on donations from governments. The largest donor is the United
States with US$ 1.2 billion last year and US$ 620 million this year. Support from
European Union countries reached a high of US$1.3 billion last year, but for 2009
less than half of that, US$574 million, has been delivered. Other major donors to
the WFP include Japan, Canada and Saudi Arabia.