UN concerned over rising food insecurity in Palestine

Two UN agency heads Friday expressed concern at the deteriorating food security in the West Bank and Gaza where one in three Palestinian households now struggle to feed their families, a statement read. 

Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the UN World Food Programme and Filippo Grandi, the commissioner-general of UNRWA visited a Bedouin village between Jerusalem and Jericho where a food distribution carried out jointly by the two agencies was taking place.

“High food prices and low wages mean that 1.6 million Palestinians don’t know from where their next meal is coming,” said WFP’s Ertharin Cousin.

“Yet food security is security. Food security is a vital component for sustained peace across the region.”

Cousin also welcomed a new agreement with UNRWA that will strengthen cooperation in Palestine and throughout the region and address the urgent needs of the population, the statement read.

High unemployment, poor economy leading to food insecurity

In 2012, a total of 1.6 million people – 34 percent of households in Palestine – were food insecure, a dramatic rise from 27 percent in 2011, according to preliminary results of a joint UN survey carried out by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, WFP, UNRWA and the Food and Agriculture Organization, found that

Contributing factors include high unemployment rates, stagnant economic growth, the financial problems of the Palestinian Authority, the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, the statement read.

In Jericho, Cousin met shoppers using electronic vouchers from WFP to buy olive oil, salt and other groceries, most of which are produced locally in Palestine.

In the past three years WFP has injected more than $100 million into the Palestinian economy through local purchase and the redemption of electronic food vouchers. “This investment supports local businesses and generates employment,” the statement read.

During the visit to the village of Khan al Ahmar, the two agency heads signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in an agreement which will deepen and expand ties between the two agencies.

“As well as cooperating more in the fields of food security and nutrition, we can share expertise in logistics, supply chain management and other initiatives, not just in Palestine, but regionally, particularly as we face up to the challenge of the Syria crisis,” said Commissioner-General Grandi.

Source: Ma’annews

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