India's generous wheat contribution supports nearly five million Afghans in dire need of assistance
KABUL – In the past one and a half year, the Government of India has donated a 50,000 metric tons of wheat grains to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan. This donation has enabled WFP to support more than one million people this year, and 4.7 million people in 2022.
"Keeping in mind the deteriorating situation in that country, India decided to assist Afghan people by supplying humanitarian aid. In this endeavor, we have supplied several shipments of humanitarian assistance totaling 50,000 metric tons of wheat," said the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. “The recent shipment of 10,000 MTs of wheat was shipped through Shahid Behesti Terminal of Chabhar Port.”
Five consignments of wheat were shipped from India and milled and fortified locally by ten Afghan companies to produce 41,500 metric tons of wheat flour. WFP distributed the wheat flour to the most vulnerable Afghans. Milling and fortifying the wheat flour inside the country helped support the local economy, reduced wheat flour import needs and made getting food to communities in most need quicker.
“India has stood by the people of Afghanistan and helped WFP reach hungry families when needs were at record height,” said Hsiao-Wei Lee, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan, “WFP can support the most vulnerable people of Afghanistan, because of the lifesaving contributions from our partners like India.”
Recent months have seen a slight improvement in Afghanistan's overall food security situation, largely due to sustained and significant humanitarian food aid. Despite these gains, the circumstances remain extremely dire for one-third of Afghans who do not know where their next meal will come from. WFP has provided emergency food assistance to an estimated 15.7 million food-insecure people between January and the end of November 2023. 7.7 million of these were women and girls.
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.
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