Oman Wires It's all about Oman
It is estimated that in the absence of meals help, largely from the UN World Food Programme (WFP), this would go up to 20mn.
In partnership with WFP, an Omani business, Salalah Mills, is assisting to fight hunger, milling about 500 tonnes of wheat each day to be trucked to the war-torn nation. Here, Port of Salalah is acting as the vital gateway for this humanitarian assistance.
“Once the Port of Hodeidah was blocked, we said, let’s get to Port of Salalah and bring the food in from there . We sent a team to Salalah, and they made contacts with the mill and the port. Every day, 500 tonnes of wheat flour are being milled there and then trucked across the border into Yemen,” Jakob Kern, Director of Supply Chain, WFP, mentioned.
According to WFP, two-thirds of the Yemeni population, or 18mn, do not know exactly where their subsequent meal is coming from, whilst 8mn stay precariously close to famine.
Salalah Mills has stated in its annual report that its export to Yemen surged significantly in 2018. “The management signed a contract with WFP in September 2018 to provide wheat milling service for supply to Yemen,” it stated. “On account of the contract, the export to Yemen increased by 65.5 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year.”
An senior official at the business mentioned that the contract for the milling will run via 2019.
Speaking to Muscat Daily
, Mark Hardiman, CEO, Port of Salalah, mentioned, “We have the WFP cargo coming by the port and then later it is being trucked over to Yemen.”
He added that proximity to the border with Yemen is a excellent benefit for the port. “And obviously with the infrastructure that has been damaged in Yemen, I think there is good opportunity there. So we are having extra volumes because of the situation in Yemen.”
Aiming to feed 12mn of the 30.5mn total population each month, WFP’s emergency response in Yemen is its biggest anyplace in the globe.
The present level of hunger in Yemen is unprecedented and is causing extreme hardship for millions of folks, stated WFP. “The rate of child malnutrition is one of the highest in the world and the nutrition situation continues to deteriorate. A recent survey showed that almost one third of families have gaps in their diets, and hardly ever consume foods like pulses, vegetables, fruits, dairy products or meat. “Some 3mn pregnant and nursing women and children under five need support to prevent or cure malnutrition. In 2019, WFP is gradually expanding its assistance to reach all of them with special nutrition support.”
WFP mentioned that it is operating a race against time, massively boosting its malnutrition prevention campaign for 2019. WFP’s typical month-to-month specifications in 2019 are set to improve to about US$176mn. The agency demands US$1.5bn to make sure uninterrupted meals help in Yemen all through 2019.
Information Source: Muscat Daily
