SOUTHERN AFRICA: US aid arrives ahead of critical lean season

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 16 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - A United States aid package worth more than US $50 million is going to help Southern Africa through "a very tough period", says the World Food Programme (WFP).

Recent food and crop assessments by the UN, NGOs, and governments in the region revealed that at least 10.7 million people would need food aid during the year ahead, WFP said in a statement.

The announcement by the US this week of its $51.8 million donation - the second biggest contribution ever made to WFP for its operations in Southern Africa - would give the agency the "opportunity to get food to the neediest people, including those affected by HIV/AIDS, before the lean season [between harvests] starts in December".

"It can take up to four months to get food to the most vulnerable and, as we are seeing yet again in West Africa, the world cannot afford to wait until the last minute to pledge support," WFP Executive Director James Morris was quoted as saying. "By stepping in early with such a sizeable donation, the United States is among the first donors to enable WFP to respond effectively to the needs of millions of people, especially vulnerable children, before their needs become critical."

WFP spokesman Mike Huggins told IRIN the donation consisted of commodities like maize-meal, wheat, cooking oil, sorghum and pulses, such as split peas and beans.

The food aid should arrive before the "most critical period", the December to March lean season, when households traditionally have limited access to food stocks and lack the money to buy food even if it is available.

Food shortages were so severe in most countries that some people had already eaten whatever they were able to harvest.

"Southern Africa will face a very tough period between December 2005 and March 2006 ... so we hope this very generous US contribution will go a long way towards helping people survive this period," Huggins noted.

WFP planned to assist more than eight million of those worst affected by the prolonged dry spell that destroyed much of this season's harvest across the region. The situation for many people in Southern Africa was compounded by the world's highest HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rates, rapidly increasing numbers of orphans, chronic poverty, and weakened ability by governments to respond to the crisis.

"Because of the sheer magnitude of the pandemic in Southern Africa, HIV/AIDS has a direct negative impact on peoples' ability to grow food themselves; children tend to drop out of school to work the land or earn money to support family members stricken with the virus, and, slowly but surely, societies begin to unravel," Morris commented.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last week wrote to 27 heads of state as well as the African Development Bank and the European Union to alert them to the fact that millions of people would go hungry in Southern Africa unless donations to the WFP were made immediately.

Huggins observed that although the agency welcomed the US donation, WFP still needed $212 million to run its programmes through to March 2006.

The agency sought to bring thousands of tons of food aid to the region, he said, but WFP was extremely aware of the need to avoid any negative impact on the local economy.

"The people that WFP assists are always those who are not able to access or buy food themselves, so the food aid that is provided never ends up on the market and never goes to people who would normally be sourcing food from the markets," Huggins explained.

WFP always reduced food aid distributions after harvest periods, "to ensure that we do not distort local markets".

"We go to great lengths to ensure markets are protected," Huggins said, "but our primary concern is to ensure that people who have no way of feeding themselves get food."

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