World Food Programme (WFP) and The Gambia’s Ministry of Agriculture have launched an emergency relief package to provide food assistance to 42,750 households in the country.

Each household will receive a 50kg bag of rice per month for a period of four months as The Gambia and WFP address food-related problem amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

This effort, Development Diaries understands, is part of the country’s national Covid-19 response.

The effects of the pandemic have worsened long-standing challenges to The Gambia’s food security, as the lives and livelihoods of much of The Gambia’s rural population are in danger.

The country and WFP seek to protect livelihoods and cushion the vulnerable households from hunger, allowing for faster rebound from the adverse impact of the pandemic.

The assistance, according to the partners, will prioritise families with less than four months of food stock, surviving on daily wages with no regular income or remittances, and households with malnourished children and chronically ill individuals.

‘The Ministry of Agriculture with support from the government and partners is ever committed today than ever to provide food assistance to vulnerable farmers and build their resilience in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and negative impacts of climate change’,  Minister of Agriculture, Amie Fabureh, said.

WFP Country Director in The Gambia, Yasuhiro Tsumura, said, ‘WFP support complements government efforts to ensure continued provision of food assistance for the most vulnerable people in The Gambia as measures to help contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic affect livelihoods, limiting access to food’.

Source: The Point

Photo source: UNAMID