WFP Executive Director, On First Visit To Africa, Pledges 'Maximum Positive Impact' On Poor From Food Purchases

The new Executive Director of the United Nations World
Food
Programme, Josette Sheeran, today called on farmers, grain traders,
and
government officials to support WFP in developing "better models with
food
aid purchases" that can help poor farmers access markets and assist
in
solving chronic food insecurity.



Sheeran, on her first field trip as WFP Executive Director, spoke to a
wide
variety of economists, traders and market experts at two
roundtable
discussions about local food assistance procurement and its potential
for
making a positive impact on human development.



"I am convinced that strategically directed local purchase can benefit
not
only the hungry, but also poor farmers producing food," said Sheeran.
"Food
security requires access to food and sustainable production of food."



Sheeran started the first day of a three-country trip to the Horn of
Africa
with a visit to the Ethiopian capital's central grain market.
Sheeran
talked with traders in the bustling market, from farmers selling a
few
sacks of wheat carried on the backs of their donkeys to traders dealing
in
tens of thousands of metric tons.



Sheeran noted that WFP has a "huge market presence" with its
cash-based
purchases in Africa. WFP today buys 20 times more in Ethiopia than it
did
in 1990. Last year, WFP bought 158,214 metric tons from Ethiopa at a
value
of US $37 million. One-third of the food WFP sources for its operations
in
Ethiopia is purchased in the country.



"We're hoping to take a more strategic look at our purchases to see that
we
are doing all we can to have the maximum positive impact on
development,"
she said.



Sheeran emphasized the need to support the African farmer: "How can
we
mitigate the risk for the African farmer, particularly the risk of
waiting
for rainfall that may not come?" she asked.



Sheeran, who told the grain markets experts that her intent in coming
to
Ethiopia was to "listen and learn," said WFP is determined to create
a
"virtuous circle of food security" - from the small-scale farmers to
the
ultimate beneficiaries of food assistance.



Sheeran met today with Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse and
is
scheduled to meet tomorrow with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
On
Wednesday, Sheeran travels to Sudan, where WFP has its largest operation.





WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to
an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's
poorest
countries. WFP -- We Feed People.



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