United Nations Radio

WFP this month released a study which projects even more hunger and struggling in the developing world--particularly for those living on less than two dollars a day.

Hunger in the developing world

And while the research focused on five countries-WFP says it shows how countries are facing similar challenges.

Dianne Penn interviewed WFP spokesperson Bettina Luescher about their findings.

LUESCHER: What we have found is that most affected by the financial crisis are the unskilled workers in the urban areas; families who rely on money that their relatives are sending home from abroad-these so-called remittances; and also people who were laid off from the export sectors, and those working in mining and tourism. Those are the most affected ones.

PENN: Let's look at one of those countries. Let's take Zambia for instance. Can you tell us what WFP has found there?

LUESCHER: What we found in Zambia is that food prices are really exceptionally high, with the cost of staple foods sometimes two-thirds higher than at the same time last year. And what that means is that people have begun cutting down on the number of meals per day. They just simply eat cheaper, less nutritious food. And the exchange rates in Zambia and the exports have been badly hit. The local currency has lost a third of its value against the US dollar. So, there are thousands of job losses in the country even in some of the more prosperous regions. So you can see how people are being hit and how they are suffering. And what we are being concerned about is that the progress that has been made in so many countries over the last years in reaching the Millennium Development Goals, in fighting hunger, is now being scaled back. One example for that is Ghana. Ghana has had great progress in reducing poverty; they've got a good safety net that they have built up. But because the worker, the Ghanaian workers abroad, are sending less money home because capital doesn't come in, the exports are really suffering, we are concerned that all the progress that has been made could really be kept back.

PENN: And finally Ms. Luescher, what recommendation is WFP making to governments, for example?

LUESCHER: I think what we have to is that money has to be spent on this. The urgent hunger needs of more than 100 million people, that's what we are working on. We have to make sure that WFP as an aid organization that is totally voluntarily funded will get resources this year to do this also. We need $6.4 billion to feed those 105 million people. That's one thing for us as an aid organization. But for everybody else: write to your congressmen and women, write to your prime ministers and presidents, write to your princes and kings, and urge them that they invest in development aid, invest in humanitarian aid, and that we do not lose the focus in these tough times on really the poor and the hungry.

PRES: Bettina Luescher, World Food Programme spokesperson in New York.

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