11 August 2011 | Rima Evans
BBC Radio 4
Sunday 17 July, 12.30pm
★ ★ ★ ★
Looking at how emergency foods are made for disasters, presenter Sheila Dillon’s insightful investigation centred around the World Food Programme (WFP) and the advances it has made in the kind of food (such as energy biscuits) sent out to people caught in emergencies.
She also focused on the procurement of the ingredients that go in to these ‘smart foods’, as well as the grains required for long-term feeding.
WFP’s procurement has had to become more sophisticated. How do you buy enough to feed 90 million people, and with money that comes from voluntary donations? While procurement endeavours to buy up the grains that make up the staple diets of the region in need, the WFP is not protected from market fluctuations.
Buying locally as possible also has its challenges and it’s up to procurement to provide all the assistance needed to make sure the supplies get to where they are required.
Yet Jack Keulemans, head of field procurement in Bangkok when the 2004 Tsunami hit, said the sharing of information and team-working to help people in need is “beautiful”.
Procurement can really mean the difference between life and death.
