By Nangayi Guyson – nangayi.guyson@alleastafrica.com
Kampala, Uganda- Turkish Government has donated Food aid worth $40,000 to the Uganda to fight hunger that has hit the country in the recent years, Ugandan Foreign Minister Okello Oryem confirmed.
Mr. Okello Oryem who is the current Foreign Minister, said “the Turkish Embassy has promised to give us food and will be distributing 32 tons of food aid – including maize, rice, beans, salt, oil, and sugar – to 1,325 families in the regions of Kitgum and Arua in northern Uganda.”Mr. Okello said adding that “those who will benefit from this food aid are the most vulnerable people like, children, the elderly, and people living with HIV/AIDS.”
Speaking at the Turkish Embassy in the capital Kampala, Ambassador Sedef Yavuzalp also confirmed the food aid to Uganda.
He said the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) will be distributing 32 tons of maize, rice, beans, salt, oil, and sugar parts hit by famine in the northern Uganda.
According to the Mr .Yavuzalp TİKA has been carrying out projects in Uganda since 2008 in areas such as animal husbandry, agriculture, education, irrigation, health, vocational training, and food, among others. As agreed upon during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Uganda last year, “We wish to open a TİKA coordination office in Kampala as soon as possible, thus allowing us to offer more assistance and implement more projects in Uganda,” she added.
Mr. Okello Oryem also said his office is working on an agreement to allow TİKA to open local offices in Uganda. “The agreement is in its final stages and I hope that by the end of this month we will be in position to sign the agreement.”
This is not the first time Turkey has donated food Aid to Africa, between 2011 and 2015 Turkey donated over $1.5 billion to under-developed countries, according to Yavuzalp.
Uganda is battling hunger that has hit most parts of the Country. About 10.9 million people in Uganda are experiencing food insecurity and at least 1.6 million people in various parts of the country need food aid urgently
The nation’s northeastern Karamoja region is the worst hit with two in three people having access to only half a meal or less per day, Christopher Kibazanga, minister of state for agriculture, told AlleastAfrica in a telephone interview.
This year’s first rains, which normally begin in March, were more than three weeks late and below average in the northwest, central and eastern parts of the country.
The second season over August-October was also delayed after a dry spell in May-June that destroyed crops causing the out breaking of hunger.
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