Welcome: WFP Food Security Atlas for Cambodia
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, and to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” (Rome Italy 13 November 1996)
World Food Summit Plan of Action
Overview
Cambodia is a least-developed, low-income food deficit country emerging from decades of civil conflict and economic stagnation. According to the new international poverty line set by World Bank – US$1.25-a-day, 42 percent of Cambodians live in extreme poverty. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 2008 Global Hunger Index also lists Cambodia as one of the 33 countries having an “alarming or extremely alarming” level of hunger.
The unexpected rise of food and fuel prices in 2008 had a big impact on
programme implementation. A recent impact study on soaring food prices
concluded that 1.7 million Cambodians experienced food insecurity as an
effect of high food prices, and that this number was expected to
increase to 2.8 million, a fifth of the population, during the next
"lean season". The study also found that 98 percent of the poor have
incurred new debts and half of them cut back on food consumption or
referred to inferior foods as a coping mechanism.
Since 1979, WFP has been the Cambodian government’s lead partner in
reducing hunger and under nutrition. WFP’s social safety net activities
currently reach nearly 1 million of the most vulnerable people through
food for education, food for training, food for work, support to TB and
HIV patients, pregnant and lactating women and children between 6-24
months, stabilizing important social safety nets and reducing the
impact of economic shocks on the poor. WFP will continue addressing the
short to medium-term food security needs of over one million Cambodians
in 2009.
Programmes
Support to Maternal and Child Health
Assisting People in Crisis
The primary goal of the new protracted relief and recovery operation is to enhance the resilience and coping capacity of vulnerable households and communities through targeted food aid intervention. The three year PRRO will provide a total of 90,844 tons of food to around 1.8 million people. The core activities include: 1) education- school feeding and take-home rations for vulnerable children, especially girls. 2) health and nutrition- food support to PLHIV, OVC, and TB patients. 3) disaster risk reduction- FFW community asset creation, food for training and relief food assistance.
