The World Bank said on Thursday it was speeding up its aid to help overcome the global food crisis with a “rapid reaction facility” of US$1.2 billion in grants and loans.
To deal with immediate and long-term food problems, the bank said it would increase its overa all support for agriculture and food aid to US$6 billion next year, up from US$4 billion this year.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that as the international community heads into a major UN summit in Rome next week to address the global food crisis, “there is a need for a clear action plan” because “higher food prices are driving people and countries into danger.”
Zoellick said aid should be provided to handle immediate humanitarian needs such as seeing that pregnant women receive proper nutrition and that children at school are fed.
He said longer-term help should go to small farmers to include seed and fertilizer for the next planting season so they can increase their harvests.
“These initiatives will help address the immediate danger of hunger and malnutrition for the 2 billion people struggling to survive in the face of rising food prices and contribute to a longer-term solution that must involve many countries and institutions,” he said.
High oil prices, changing diets, urbanization, expanding populations, flawed trade policies, extreme weather, growth in biofuel production and speculation have sent food prices soaring worldwide. This has touched off food riots from Africa to Asia and raised fears that uncounted millions will suffer malnutrition.
Zoellick said the bank’s US$1.2 billion in new money, called a “rapid reaction facility,” included US$200 million aimed at vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries.
“The idea is to immediately respond to the human needs of the present crisis by scaling up what we do” instead of taking four to six months to approve a project, he said.
He said the bank’s board was approving grants on Thursday to Djibouti (US$5 million), Haiti (US$10 million) and Liberia (US$10 million).
In the next week grant support would be provided Togo, Yemen and Tajikistan, he said.
The bank said these countries are being given high priority based on rapid needs assessments undertaken in the field with the UN World Food Programme, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Zoellick said rapid needs assessments have been completed in more than 25 countries, with another 15 under way.
He also asked governments of developed countries not to impose export restrictions or tariffs on food that could be funneled to relief agencies or countries facing severe food shortages.
Zoellick said taxes and bans were “exacerbating the problem.”
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