Food distribution cost shoot up with recent fuel hike - WFP officer

Thousands of refugees and malnourished locals face uncertain future as the “only” source of food is threatened by high fuel cost and low funding. Distribution of food to thousands of refugees and malnourished populations in far places of Cameroon has been rendered more costly by a recent hike in fuel prices in the country, an official of the World Food Programme (WFP) has said.

Cameroon increased fuel prices by 14 to 15% in early July after the government decided to eliminate 35% of fuel subsidies. The cost of transportation has gone up across different sectors throughout the country. “When you do the calculations, it means we can distribute slightly less food with the same amount of money received from our donors,” said Jacques Roy, the WFP country director and representative in Cameroon.

More than 106,000 Central Africans have sought safety in Cameroon this year alone after escaping an armed conflict in their country. More of them continue to arrive on a weekly and monthly basis even though the numbers are reducing.

WFP currently provides food handouts to more than 74,000 Central Africans in the east of the country and has extended its assistance to thousands of Nigerian refugees in the north. Most of them have “left everything they own back home and the food and shelter they receive from the UN agencies are sometimes all they have”.

In addition, some 11,500 children, pregnant women and nursing mothers in malnutrition hotspots in the country also depend on “special nutritious products” from WFP. A similar number has been treated for malnutrition through WFP supported health centers in parts of the country, according to the organisation’s estimates.

“The fuel price increase comes at a time when our transport costs are also going up for another reason,” said Roy. “We are setting up new food distribution points. This is in order to be closer to the beneficiaries, and therefore reduce the distance they are obliged to walk or travel to collect their food.

“But of course, with extra distribution points, you also have extra transport costs. So at the end of the day our transport costs are going up for two reasons: fuel costs and additional transport needs.” In addition to the rise in fuel costs, underfunding is also affecting WFP relief operations in Cameroon.

WFP says it needs 17,000 tons of food or some USD18.5 million to keep operations going through December. But so far, it has only received around 40% from donors and is thus short of USD11 million for this year alone. For the upcoming year, the situation looks even worse, said Roy.

“Insufficient funding means that there could be breaks in our food ‘pipeline’ very soon,” he said. “That means that, even if we have trucks and fuel, we don’t have the commodities to deliver.

“Consequently we might have to cut down temporarily on the special nutritional products that we are giving to new refugees in some areas to help them fend off malnutrition. I refer to products like the ready-to-use peanut paste PlumpySup and the nutrient rich flour known as SuperCereal. And by September we expect to have problems buying normal food rations unless we have new funding soon.” WFP expects its future needs to rise beyond current projections.

“Since a couple of thousand refugees continue to cross the border every week, we have to include additional people with each round of food distribution. This also means the cost of our operation will increase for each month and that we constantly need to raise more funds.”

Presently, WFP estimates that it transports more than 1,223 tons of food commodities on a monthly basis from the port of Douala to villages, “often located in remote areas close to the border with CAR, in the east”.