Hjælpeorganisationer er begyndt at uddele hjælp i form af poser med mad til de mest sårbare familier i Ugandas nordøstlige Karamoja-region. Det sker tidligere end planlagt. Ugandas regering får kritik for mangelfuld plan for fødevaresikkerhed.
KAMPALA, 8 April 2014 (IRIN): Aid agencies are giving out food relief in Uganda’s arid northeastern Karamoja region earlier than usual due to greater food insecurity, which locals and experts blame on the failures of a key government food security plan launched five years ago.
The UN food agency, WFP, is providing targeted relief to 155,000 people from the most food insecure households in all seven districts of Karamoja, assisting 377,000 people through an asset-creation programme and 100,000 children through school meals.
In addition, 40,000 women and children receive food under the mother-and-child health and nutrition programme, and 26,000 malnourished children monthly under the community-based supplementary feeding programme.
“WFP began food distributions among the most vulnerable households earlier than usual, in February. WFP is providing assistance through programmes that reinforce each other in addressing food and nutrition security in Karamoja,” Alice Martin-Dairoun, the WFP country representative, told IRIN. The lean season normally lasts from April to September.
According to the August rapid crop and food security assessment conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, WFP and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), an estimated 103,000 people faced severe food insecurity and 248,000 are under stress as a result of a long dry spell across the region.
The report predicted that the food security situation would worsen during the peak of the lean season this year and 495,000-600,000 people will need assistance.
Mismanagement of food security plan
Locals and experts have attributed the chronic food shortages, malnutrition and poverty in the region to the failure of the government five-year US$35 million Karamoja Action Plan for Food Security (KAPFS, 2009-2014) which prioritized crop farming over traditional pastoralism (livestock), which people have survived on for decades.
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