Govt appeals for 0.5m tonnes of food aid

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FHM Humayan Kabir
Some donors Tuesday agreed in principle to assist the disaster-affected Bangladesh when the government sought 0.5 million tonnes of food-grains.
The government Tuesday at a meeting sought the assistance from the donors to offset the food deficit caused by the extensive damage of crops by the recurrent floods and devastating cyclone in the country.
Adviser of the food and disaster ministry Tapan Chowdhury made the appeal formally to the donor community for providing the food-grains, particularly rice and wheat, at the meeting held at the secretariat in Dhaka.
Envoys and representatives from different countries and donor agencies attended the meeting.
After the meeting, Tapan Chowdhury said the donors have appreciated the country's necessity of food aid.
Chowdhury told the reporters that currently the government had a stock of 0.735 million tonnes of food-grains. Of which 0.2 million tonnes will be spent for the purpose of Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) and Food for Work Programme (FWP) in the devastating cyclone Sidr-hit areas, he added.
"We have requested the donors to provide food aid by procuring from outside Bangladesh so that it does not affect the domestic market," said the adviser adding, in order to ensure the country's food security and maintain the minimum food stock of 1.0 million tonnes, the government needs immediate assistance of 0.5 million tonnes of food-grains.
Since the targets of rice and wheat procurement from the local market have been affected due to shortfall in crop production this season following the recurrent floods, the government has sought the food assistance from the donors instead of cash aid, Tapan stated.
The adviser said the country needs the food-grains from external sources to overcome any shortfall upto March next year when the new crop -- Boro rice -- will be harvested.
Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner in Dhaka Anwar Choudhury, who attended the meeting Tuesday, told reporters the United Kingdom (UK) has responded to the Bangladesh's situation quickly and decided to provide US$ 10 million in emergency aid for the Sidr-affected people.
An aircraft carrying British relief, including 41,000 blankets and 40,000 hurricanes, is expected to arrive today (Wednesday) in Dhaka, he informed.
The High Commissioner said so far, 7,000 people had died by Sidr which, he said, was more powerful than hurricane Katrina in the USA.
The envoy said his government would launch a $100 million project to distribute books among the students and repair educational infrastructure in the cyclone-affected districts.
The UNDP representative in Bangladesh, Renata L. Dessallien, told the newsmen the international communities had already been sending different kinds of relief materials for the cyclone victims over the past few days. But augmenting the food-grain stock is very important at this stage to ensure the food security in Bangladesh, she said.
She said the country requires to ensure supply of food and drinking water, provide shelter, health and sanitation facilities and rehabilitate the infrastructure in the affected areas.
Some 7.0 million people have been affected by the cyclone, she said, appreciating government's relief-distribution plan.
Renata, however, said, "There are some difficulties in coordination in carrying out relief and rehabilitation work."