World Food Program
Context:
• Food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses empty, this was stated by a World Food Program (WFP) official recently.
• This is due to the instability in the country due to its ongoing crisis.
Background:
• Movement of goods have been stagnant due to the reluctance of drivers and other manual labours backing off from work.
• Ukraine being a major producer of wheat has been supplying wheat to rest of the world.
• Even the World Food Program had been procuring over 50% of wheat from Ukraine, so the crisis has slowed down the works of WFP.
About THE WFP:
• The World Food Program (WFP) is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations.
• It is the world’s largest humanitarian organization focused on hunger and food security, and the largest provider of school meals. Founded in 1961, it is headquartered in Rome and has offices in 80 countries. As of 2020, it served 115.5 million people in 80-plus countries, the largest since 2012.
• In addition to emergency food relief, WFP offers technical assistance and development aid, such as building capacity for emergency preparedness and response, managing supply chains and logistics, promoting social safety programs, and strengthening resilience against climate change.
• The agency is also a major provider of direct cash assistance and medical supplies and provides passenger services for humanitarian workers.
• WFP is an executive member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, a consortium of UN entities that aims to fulfil the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with a priority on achieving SDG 2 for “zero hunger” by 2030.
• The World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts to provide food assistance in areas of conflict, and to prevent the use of food as a weapon of war and conflict.
Source: THE HINDU
