THE head of the United Nations World Food Program in Myanmar, Mr Bhim Udas, has hailed governmental support that has enabled its staff to travel freely to the project areas to implement and monitor its activities.

The WFP provides food supplies consisting of rice, edible oil, pulses and iodized salt, to needy people in northern Rakhine and Shan states and Magwe Division. The supplies benefit about 600,000 people.

Mr Udas said the delivery of food to the project sites improved following the visit of WFP’s executive director, Mr James Morris, last August.

Mr Udas urged the government to provide further assistance to ensure the continued flow of food to the project areas, adding that there was about a three to six month delay between the procurement and delivery of food supplies.

He said the WFP was also in discussions with concerned authorities about getting approval to buy rice produced in Rakhine State for delivery to local communities in the northern part of the state to avoid delays.

Food assistance supplied by the agency goes to the most vulnerable segments of the population, including those infected and affected by diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-AIDS.

It also goes to those who have difficulty sustaining their livelihoods, including former poppy farmers, widows, orphans and elderly people without any means of support.

Food assistance is provided through such programs as food for education, food for work, food for training and vulnerable group feeding, through which the WFP could not only help ensure food security but also improve community infrastructure and the livelihoods of food recipients, said Mr Udas.

Citing the additional benefits of these projects, Mr Udas said the food for work program helped build 26 kilometres of village access roads in northern Rakhine State and 227 kilometres in Shan State.

It also contributed to the repair and renovation of about 120 primary schools in Rakhine and Shan states; the construction of 193 bridges, 25 jetties and three dams in Rakhine State; and the renovation of 59 ponds and two dams in Magwe Division.

Mr Udas said the WFP’s food for training program benefited women, including widows and adolescents, by offering a bag of rice each month to women who attended vocational training courses that are jointly organised with other UN agencies and non-government organisations.

Meanwhile, the food for education program has resulted in increased school enrolment among girls, who are traditionally less likely than boys to attend school, he said. The programs have benefited more than 160,000 children in three areas.

The agency is also considering starting a program in early 2006 to provide supplemental feeding to primary school children in the project areas, Mr Udas said.