The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Uganda has expanded its operation from not only providing emergency relief, but supporting mechanisms to fight hunger, the agency's top official in Kampala said on Thursday.
Stanlake Samkange, WFP Country Representative, told reporters that the five-year country strategy has already been agreed on with the government and donors, and is now awaiting approval from the agency's board in June this year.
He said the strategy which is expected to start in July this year is aligned to the country's new development plan aimed at fighting poverty.
The major components of the strategy include emergency humanitarian action, addressing food and nutrition security and agriculture market support.
"Our strategy encompasses a range of interventions that seek not only to treat the symptoms of hunger in emergency situations, but also to help in addressing the underlying causes of hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity in Uganda," he said.
He noted that the strategy will boost agricultural production in the country as WFP be focusing on increasing its food purchase from rural farmers, thereby supporting the government's poverty eradication strategy.
The food agency last year purchased food worth 53 million dollars from Ugandan farmers and expects to buy more food from them worth 100 million dollars annually by 2011.
Samkange said part of the strategy is already being implemented in the north eastern part of the East African country where over 970,000 people are at risk of starvation.
Ugandan Government and WFP earlier this month launched a 64 million dollar emergency operation in the region to purchase 89,000 metric tonnes of food for the hunger stricken people.
Samkange said Uganda's strategy will be used as a model that will be spread to all the agency's programs globally to reflect WFP's corporate strategy, showing the changing nature of the agency from a food aid agency to a hunger agency.