The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is expanding its operation in Pakistan to support additional 3.1 million people hard hit by high food prices. Emergency assistance worth 71 million dollar will be provided in the 20 worst effected districts of NWFP, Balochistan and Sindh. In this regard, an agreement is signed here on Saturday.
Secretary Food and Agriculture Zia-ur-Rehman and Wolfgang Habinger Country Representative of WFP signed the agreement. This assistance of 71 million dollar would complement the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) started by the government to support the poorest of the poor.
Government has set up a National Task Force on Food Security in response to the food price crisis and this task force recommended safety net assistance for seven million households whose food consumption is less than 1,700 k cal per day. The government's new 'Benazir Income Support Programme' will provide cash support of Rs 1,000 per month for 3.5 million families.
Through this WFP agreement and assistance, 3 million poor people of 20 hard hit districts would get benefited and it will help the poor households to meet their basic food needs and use resources which they normally spend on food to concentrate on other essentials like education and health.-PR
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