Decision on Emergency Food Aid in Response to Rising Food Prices

April 25, 2008

In response to the aggravating issue of rising food prices, the Government of Japan decided to implement food aid of about 100 million dollars in next three months as an emergency measure.

About 50 million dollars of the aid will be provided mainly to countries in Africa in May through the UN World Food Programme (WFP), taking into account WFP’s emergency appeal.

Japan had already contributed about 68 million dollars to the WFP in the year 2008.
On the issue of rising food prices, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, as Chair of the G8, expressed his intention to raise the matter at the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in his letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick on April 18.
Japan was the fifth largest donor to the WFP in 2007, contributing about 119 million dollars.

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