UN food agency launches emergency appeal
According to the business daily, which cited a letter sent to donor countries over the weekend, the money was required by the end of April, otherwise the World Food Program (WFP) would have to reduce food rations because of rapidly increasing commodity prices.
"We urge your government to be as generous as possible in helping us to close this gap -- which stood at 500 million dollars on February 25 and has been growing daily," WFP executive director Josette Sheeran wrote in the letter.
She added that if sufficient money was not received by May 1, the WFP may have to cut "the rations for those who rely on the world to stand by them during times of abject need."
The letter also quoted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said: "This is the new face of hunger, increasingly affecting communities that had previously been protected."
Food prices have been spiraling higher globally because of rising population, strong demand from developing countries, the use of certain foods in bio-fuels to combat climate change, and the increasing frequency of floods and droughts as a result of climate change.
The WFP provides nearly 88 million people in 78 countries with food aid in 2006, it was learnt.
