Government Provides 50,000 Tons of Rice Aid to Six Food Crisis Countries Including Syria and Afghanistan

Support through UN World Food Programme
Providing aid for 6 years... Supporting 3 to 4 million people annually

The government will provide 50,000 tons of rice to countries facing food crises in the Middle East and Africa again this year, following last year.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 21st that it will supply 50,000 tons of rice to six countries?Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Syria, and Afghanistan?where food shortages have worsened due to COVID-19, conflicts, and climate change crises, through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

South Korea joined the Food Assistance Convention (FAC) in January 2018 and pledged to provide 50,000 tons of rice as food aid to the international community. So far, it has been supporting 3 to 4 million refugees and migrants in food crisis countries with 50,000 tons of rice annually.

The number of recipient countries has increased by two. Considering the urgency based on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) and the acceptance of Korean rice, the government added Syria and Afghanistan to the existing four recipient countries (Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda).

Starting with the first shipment of aid rice to Syria from Busan New Port on the 22nd of this month, the remaining rice will be shipped sequentially. It is planned to arrive in the recipient countries in June and July and be distributed from July.

Jung Hye-ryeon, Director of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, “This year marks the 60th anniversary of South Korea’s emergency relief request to the WFP and the sixth year of our food aid contributions. South Korea is the only exemplary country that has developed from a food aid recipient to a donor within one generation, and we will continue to advance our food aid projects to achieve the United Nations’ goal of ending hunger.”

(Photo) [Image source=Yonhap News]

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