*Correction: This release updates an earlier post, clarifying the total value of the project and correcting the length of time in which it will run. Any confusion or obfuscation was not intended and we are pleased to make this correction.
SILVER SPRING, Md.--In Chad, where chronic food shortages are increasingly affecting large population numbers each year, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) launched a large-scale food security program that will target some of the country's most vulnerable communities.
To meet the needs of 98,600 people who have been severely affected by a worsening food crisis, ADRA is partnering with Africare, a U.S.-based non-profit organization, to improve food access among families in the regions of Batha and Ouaddaï located in central and eastern Chad respectively, and decrease their vulnerability to droughts and famines.
Through the five-year Batha-Ouaddaï Food Security Initiative (BOFSI), which began in August 2008 and is expected to end in July 2013, communities will receive training in capacity-building activities and learn mechanisms that will reduce their level of risk and vulnerability to lack of food and poor health. Participants will also improve their health and nutrition, and benefit from increased access to clean drinking water and basic health services.
The project is valued at an estimated $28 million, including commodities and transportation, and is being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA)/Office of Food for Peace (FFP). ADRA's component is worth more than $11 million, including commodities and transportation.
Additionally, BOFSI is helping communities improve livestock and crop productivity, crop storage, household income, and develop emergency programs and procedures that will minimize their vulnerabilities to natural disasters.
Generally between June and September, when the yearly lean period is at its height across much of Chad, food shortages become particularly severe due to the impact of low crop production, exorbitantly high cereal prices, and other factors, including frequent crop infestations, persistent post-harvest losses, and ongoing civil instability.
In the immediate short-term, the number of people in need of food aid is expected to rise to more than 733,000 people, with the areas in and around the capital N'Djamena, and the rural regions of Kanem, Batha, Wadi Fira, and Salamat, being the most affected, according to USAID's Famine Early Warning System Network, (FEWS NET).
ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.
For more information, visit www.adra.org.
Author: Nadia McGill
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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