US sending $9 million in food aid to refugees in Tanzania

Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech | July 1, 2022
·2 min read
5

Story at a glance

  • The United States is giving $9 million for food assistance to displaced people living in Tanzanian refugee camps.

  • The funds will be given through the U.S. Agency for International Development.

  • The funds will go towards purchasing 12,000 metric tons of maize.

The United States sent $9 million in food assistance to refugees in Tanzania.

Funds were sent through the U.S. Agency for International Development and will allow the program along with partner organizations like the United Nations World Food Programme to give food to over 204,000 people living in refugee camps in northwestern Tanzania.

“This contribution is critical not only because of the value of food going to refugees but also because of the economic impact it will make to Tanzania through the local procurement of food,” said Sarah Gordon-Gibson, WFP country director and representative, in a statement.

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USAID’s funds will be used to buy over 12,000 metric tons of locally produced fortified maize to be placed in food baskets given to people in the country’s two largest refugee camps, according to the statement.

Tanzania is considered to be one of the most “generous refugee-hosting countries” in the world hosting roughly 335,000 displaced people, according to Norwegian Refugee Council.

Displaced people from Burundi make up the majority of the refugees living in Tanzania but about a quarter are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the NFC.

Food supplies in Tanzania, for native Tanzanians and those living in refugee camps, are shrinking in part due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

African countries rely heavily on Russia and Ukraine for wheat imports with Tanzania, Senegal and Rwanda importing 60 percent of their wheat supply from both countries, according to Newsweek.

“These problems—lack of access to livelihood opportunities, limited healthcare and education services, and malnutrition—are exacerbated by instability and rises in prices as a result of Russia’s unjust invasion of Ukraine, which is straining global food supplies, increasing fuel prices, and making the lives of Tanzanians—and refugees residing in Tanzania—more expensive and more difficult,” said Donald Wright, United States Ambassador to Tanzania.

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