Mozambique: UN food agency faces severe shortfall in relief funding

With 170,000 Mozambicans still facing severe food shortages after two consecutive years of floods, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today said it had received only a fraction of the funding required to provide relief to the southern African nation.

The agency announced that only $900,000 has been furnished for its emergency

operation in Mozambique, while another $3.2 million is still urgently needed.

“We are facing another rainy season and yet we still have to feed tens of thousands of people who continue to suffer from the effects of flooding over the last two years,” said Angela Van Rynbach, WFP’s Representative in Mozambique. She noted that many families lacked adequate food to see them through to the next harvest. “We hope donors will continue to be generous with this vital assistance to Mozambique.”

Facing poor prospects for this year’s crops, Mozambicans have resorted to selling off their few assets in order to buy food at inflated prices, according to WFP, which is working with other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on a range of relief measures.

“In the midst of helping communities to recover from the devastating effects of previous floods, we are also having to prepare to respond to any further crises during this rainy season by pre-positioning food and other items in areas prone to flooding,” said Ms. Van Rynbach.

At the height of the crisis in 2001, WFP was feeding 230,000 people in Mozambique. Over the past year, the agency has distributed over 18,000 tonnes of food to victims of the country’s flood emergency.