The World Food Programme (WFP) has slashed food rations distributed to 1.4 million displaced Iraqis by 50 percent because of delays in payments from donor states.

The sharp cutbacks come at a time when a growing number of Iraqis flee the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

We escaped from [ISIL] in order to have a chance to live and now they have cut the aid. How are we supposed to live? Safa Shaker, displaced Iraqi

At least 160,000 people have been displaced since October when the Iraqi military, backed by Kurdish forces and Shia militias. launched a military campaign to recapture Mosul from the armed group.

WFP spokeswoman Inger Marie Vennize said the UN agency was talking to the United States - its biggest donor, Germany, Japan and others to secure funds to restore full rations.

"We have had to reduce [the rations] as of this month," she was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.

"The 50 percent cuts in monthly rations affect over 1.4 million people across Iraq," she added.

The effect is already being felt in camps east of Mosul, ISIL's last major bastion in northern Iraq.

"They are giving an entire family the food supply of one person ... we want to go back home," said Omar Shukri Mahmoud at the Hassan Sham camp.

Safa Shaker, who fled with her extended family, said: "We are a big family and this ration is not going to be enough.

"We escaped from [ISIL] in order to have a chance to live and now they have cut the aid. How are we supposed to live?" she added.

Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people, who are at risk of being caught up in brutal urban warfare.

An estimated 650,000 people live without potable water in the city and the UN has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis and a refugee exodus.</s>The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced plans to scale up food assistance across Borno and Yobe states from one million persons to 1.3 million beneficiaries monthly. Addressing a news conference in Abuja, the Executive Director of the WFP, Ertharin Cousin said that the programme aims to reach 1.8 million persons who urgently need food … Continue reading World Food Programme Targets 1.8million People

The post World Food Programme Targets 1.8million People appeared first on Channels Television.</s>The World Food Programme said on Friday it had halved the food rations distributed to 1.4 million Iraqis displaced in the war against Islamic State because of delays in payments of funds from donor states. "This year somehow we are receiving commitments from donors a little bit late, we are talking with donors but we don't have enough money as of yet," said Inger Marie Vennize, spokeswoman for the U.N. agency.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters.</s>ERBIL, Iraq: The World Food Programme said on Friday it had halved the food rations distributed to 1.4 million Iraqis displaced in the war against Islamic State because of delays in payments of funds from donor states.

"This year somehow we are receiving commitments from donors a little bit late, we are talking with donors but we don’t have enough money as of yet," said Inger Marie Vennize, spokeswoman for the U.N. agency.

"We have had to reduce (the rations) as of this month."

The WFP is talking to the United States - its biggest donor - Germany, Japan and others to secure funds to restore full rations, she added.

"The 50 percent cuts in monthly rations affect over 1.4 million people across Iraq," Vennize said.

The impact is already being felt in camps east of Mosul, the northern city controlled in part by Islamic State. About 160,000 people have been displaced since the military campaign to recapture Mosul from the Islamists was launched in October.

"They gave us a good amount of food in the beginning, but now they have reduced it," said Omar Shukri Mahmoud at the Hassan Sham camp.

"They are giving an entire family the food supply of one person ... And there is no work at all ... we want to go back home," he added.

"We are a big family and this ration is not going to be enough," said 39-year-old Safa Shaker, who has a family of 11.

"We escaped from Daesh (Islamic State) in order to have a chance to live and now we came here and they have cut the aid. How are we supposed to live?" she said as she cooked for the family.

About 3 million people have been displaced from their homes in Iraq since 2014, when Islamic State took over large areas of the country and of neighbouring Syria.</s>"This year somehow we are receiving commitments from donors a little bit late.

We are talking with donors but we don't have enough money as of yet," spokesperson for the WFP Inger Marie Vennize told Reuters January 27. "We have had to reduce (the rations) as of this month."

Vennize said the 50% cuts in monthly rations would affect more than 1.4 million people across the country.

The reduction comes as more and more Iraqis are being displaced both by Daesh and by the US-supported push to finally oust the terrorist group from its stronghold in Mosul.

Mosul's estimated 1.5 million residents are currently caught up in vicious urban warfare between Daesh and Iraqi, Kurdish and American forces and Shia militias. Of the 1.4 million people in Iraq who received WFP assistance in November, more than 164,000 were individuals displaced by the battle for Mosul.

The WFP notes that it is also supplying food to families who have chosen not to leave their homes, and is delivering rations to those in need in the suburbs around the city.

"They are giving an entire family the food supply of one person… we want to go back home," Omar Shukri Mahmoud, an Iraqi living in the Hassan Sham camp, told Reuters.

Another woman, Safa Shaker, said the rations wouldn't be enough for her large extended family. "We escaped from [Daesh] in order to have a chance to live and now they have cut the aid. How are we supposed to live?"

The WFP, a UN agency, is talking to its major donors, including the biggest, the United States, but also Germany, Japan and others to scare up funding to bring rations back to their previous levels.

According to the WFP, more than 3.3 million Iraqis are currently internally displaced, largely since Daesh began taking over large areas of the country in 2014, and 2.4 million require immediate food assistance.

On its Iraq Emergency webpage, the WFP notes that it anticipated needing $88 million to deal with the displacement and hunger crisis the Mosul operation would inevitably create. "This will cover the procurement and pre-positioning of stocks to assist 1.4 million people for three months," it said.

At a donor meeting with the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Kuwait in July, almost $1 billion was pledged for stabilization, mine clearance and humanitarian needs, the agency reported.

"Information on how much is for the humanitarian response and how much had already been contributed by governments is not yet available," the WFP said</s>The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) has demanded reduction in food wastage here today.

According to PEW, tens of millions of people that includes children and mothers continue to face food security issues in Pakistan.

President PEW Dr Murtaza Mughal said that proper storage and food waste management system in the country could help TO increase income of farmers and feed the starving people, according to press release issued on Sunday.

He stressed that tonnes of food is wasted in all the countries of the world including Pakistan which if saved can eradicate hunger from the entire globe. Food grown over 1.4 billion hectare, an area larger than China, is wasted annually which also waste all the efforts of the farming communities, he added.

Dr Mughal said that billions of dollars are invested annually in seeds, pesticides, transportation while wasting 250 cubic kilometres of water used to grow crops is also wasted adding to global food insecurity and hunger.

While 800 million people in the world go hungry every day, nearly 100 million tonnes of Europe’s food is wasted each year that is no longer bearable, he said adding that the statistics highlight the need to address the problem while food services industry should be pushed to more competitive food services industry.

He noted that management and logistics systems for food and food waste should be improved in cities which are centres of consumption that are also expanding with an alarming pace.

Proper legislation is needed to bar hotels and supermarkets from throwing away food and give it to needy, he demanded.

He said that government and private sector can establish food banks and initiate food recovery programmes to have a social impact in terms of reducing hunger and providing social benefits.</s>Many farmers have had to abandon their land, unable to afford the soaring cost of seeds, fertilisers and tractor fuel, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme said.

Wheat output - vital for making flat loaves of bread which are a staple of the Syrian diet - dropped from an average 3.4 million metric tonnes harvested before the war began in 2011 to 1.5 million this year, they said in a joint report.

"There is an estimated shortfall of about 838,000 tonnes in the country’s national wheat requirement of 3.854 million tonnes taking into account commercial imports," it said.

The area planted for cereals in the 2015-16 cropping season is the "smallest ever", they added. Field visits and surveys showed higher than average production of barley, which some farmers switched to as the rain-fed crop is more resistant than wheat, and "large patches of cropland affected by drought".

"Food production in Syria has hit a record low due to fighting and insecurity but also bad weather conditions," World Food Programme spokeswoman Bettina Luescher told a news briefing.

Food shortages are particularly worrying in east Aleppo, the rebel-held part of the city besieged by government forces where the U.N. says 250,000-275,000 civilians still live.

"The last food rations provided by the U.N. have been given out (in east Aleppo). It is very hard to say how people will be coping there. Of course it is a very different situation than in the capital where food is readily available at the markets," Luescher said.

Reuters reported last month that Syria's state grain buying agency Hoboob struck a deal to purchase one million tonnes of wheat from political ally Russia, covering the needs of government-controlled areas for a year.

Before the war, Syria was an exporter of livestock. "Now herds and flocks have shrunk significantly, there are 30 percent fewer cattle, 40 percent fewer sheep and goats and a staggering 60 percent less poultry which of course is the most affordable source of animal protein," Luescher said.

More than 7 million people in Syria are classified as "food insecure", meaning they are not always sure where their next meal is coming from, she said, adding: "Eighty percent of the households across Syria struggle with a lack of food or lack of money to buy food."

The World Food Programme is distributing rations to more than 4 million people in Syria each month.</s>GENEVA, Nov 15 Food production has dropped to an all-time low in Syria where civilians are struggling through their sixth winter in a war zone, U.N. agencies said on Tuesday.

Many farmers have had to abandon their land, unable to afford the soaring cost of seeds, fertilisers and tractor fuel, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme said.

Wheat output - vital for making flat loaves of bread, a staple of the Syrian diet - dropped from an average 3.4 million metric tonnes harvested before the war began in 2011 to 1.5 million this year, they said in a joint statement.

The area planted for cereals in the 2015-16 cropping season is the "smallest ever", they added, citing field visits and surveys that also showed higher than average production of barley.

"Food production in Syria has hit a record low due to fighting and insecurity but also weather conditions," World Food Programme spokeswoman Bettina Luescher told a news briefing in Geneva.

Food shortages are particularly worrying in east Aleppo, the rebel-held part of the city besieged by government forces where the U.N. says 250,000-275,000 civilians still live.

"The last food rations provided by the U.N. have been given out (in east Aleppo). It is very hard to say how people will be coping there. Of course it is a very different situation in the capital where food is available at the markets and people can buy things," Luescher said.

Reuters reported last month that Syria's state grain buying agency Hoboob struck a deal to purchase one million tonnes of wheat from political ally Russia, covering the needs of government-controlled areas for a year.

Before the war, Syria was an exporter of livestock. "Now herds and flocks have shrunk, there are 30 percent fewer cattle, 40 percent fewer sheep and goats and a staggering 60 percent less poultry which of course is the most affordable source of animal protein," Luescher said.

More than 7 million people in Syria are classified as "food insecure", meaning they are not always sure where their next meal is coming from, she added.

The World Food Programme is distributing rations to more than 4 million people in Syria each month. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by John Stonestreet and Andrew Heavens)</s>Pakistan has stepped up the pressure for its 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees to return home, citing security concerns. Refugees and others see Islamabad as driven by a strengthening in Afghan-Indian relations while its own ties with India are fraying.

Thousands are crossing the Torkham border with Pakistan each day, said the World Food Programme, the UN's food assistance branch. Last month, the U.N. said nearly 170,000 Afghans had returned this year, many of them citing harassment by Pakistani authorities.

The flow of returnees from not only Pakistan, but also Iran, is straining the capacity of the government and aid agencies as yet more Afghans are uprooted by the war between Taliban insurgents and Afghan troops.

"We need sufficient and timely funds, in the coming weeks and months, to ensure that we can help returnees as rapidly and efficiently as possible," said Mick Lorentzen, WFP's country director in Afghanistan.

"A quick and focused response to this crisis will ensure that more people do not fall into chronic food insecurity."

WFP officials have warned that a funding squeeze caused by the spread of crises across the Middle East and Africa, threatened its operations in Afghanistan, where 40 percent of people are estimated to face "food insecurity".</s>This magical food recycler eliminates the grossest thing about composting

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The World Food Programme cuts food aid to over 1.4 million displaced Iraqis by 50%, citing payment delays from donor states.