Hiiraan Online
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL) – A Somali official accused the United Nations’ World Food Programme of handing out expired food to poor residents in the agricultural town of Afgoye in a bid to prevent farmers from selling their own products at a fair price.
In 2010, the Al-Qaeda linked militant group in Somalia banned the Rome-based agency from operating in Somalia, saying its operation was a disguised support for Somali government.
Abdullahi Hassan Togane, the deputy commissioner for Afgoye town told reporters Tuesday that his local administration discovered expired sorghum distributed by WFP.
He called for the agency to purchase the food aid meant for Somalia from the local farmers instead of importing it from other countries, mainly North America.
“As usual, WFP starts food distributions before farms’ harvest period which would negatively impact the local farming.” He told reporters.
Mr. Togane also said that the humanitarian agency has also stockpiled large consignments in warehouses, ignoring pleas from local farmers who lack farming crops to start plantations in the face of flash floods from Shabelle River that swept away large farmlands.
No comment could be reached from WFP on the allegations.
In a recent report, the World Food Programme said that the situation in Somalia has improved since the crisis of 2011, when four million people experienced extreme food insecurity and famine occurred in some regions of the south.
However, the gradual recovery and gains made are being threatened as below average rains, conflict and trade disruptions combined with limited humanitarian access and resources have left thousands of
people in need of lifesaving food and nutrition assistance, according to the agency.