The Agriculture Department is taking a supporting role in assuring food security in countries struggling with an outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in West Africa. It has approved a World Food Program (WFP) request to convert a school food program in Liberia into a project that offers the food as take-home rations for students and their families. A similar request has been made by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for its school food program in Sierra Leone. The governments of both countries have closed all schools as part of efforts to halt the spread of ebola.
“Our role…is a supportive position,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters during a teleconference. The school food projects in Africa are part of the McGovern-Dole program, whose goals are to reduce hunger and see that more children, especially girls, receive a primary education. USDA provides U.S.-grown food as well as financial assistance and expert advice. The program received $185 million in fiscal 2014. The same amount was requested for this fiscal year.
The Liberia project covers 10 of the 15 counties in the nation. WFP has stockpiles of 1,500 tonnes of bulgur, 332 tonnes of vegetable oil and 972 tonnes of yellow split peas. In Sierra Leone, CRS is working in Koinadugu district. Some 438 tonnes of food already have arrived with 1,150 tonnes due this week. The commodities include soy-fortified bulgur, corn-soy blend, lentils and vegetable oil. CRS proposes to release the food in three tranches with the last round in April 2015 if schools do not re-open by then.