Local Editor
Seven ships loaded with wheat grown in America’s Pacific Northwest are sailing for Yemen, where a conflict has pushed more than 8 million people to the brink of starvation.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which administers the Food for Peace program, purchased the wheat to benefit America’s wheat farmers and people in crisis. It was then handed over to the U.N.’s World Food Program to be shipped and distributed in Yemen.
Stephen Anderson, the WFP’s Yemen country director, told a Friday news conference in Portland that the wheat will provide much-needed relief.
“We’re doing our best to get food assistance to those people who need it most,” Anderson said, according to the Capital Press, an agricultural publication.
Over the past two weeks, seven ships filled with 176,000 tons (159,665 metric tons) of wheat have left Portland for Yemen, two Oregon politicians said.
Aid workers in Yemen are worried that fighting that is nearing a port where most food aid arrives could force its shutdown and potentially tip millions into starvation.
WFP Executive Director David Beasley has called Hodeida Port “a humanitarian lifeline for millions who are on the brink of famine.”
Yemeni regime forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been trying to occupy Hodeida for weeks.
Around two-thirds of the country’s population of 27 million relies on aid and 8.4 million are at risk of starving.
Source: News Agencies, Edited By Website Team
