Thailand’s Contribution to Senegal – World Food Programme (WFP) Operation in Response to the Food Crisis in Senegal 2012

            On 27 November 2012, H.E. Mrs Busaya Mathelin, Ambassador of Thailand to Senegal together with Mrs. Ingeborg Maria Breuer, Representative and Country Director of the World Food Programme in Senegal, visited the WFP’s “Food for Assets” activities in Bicol, Fatick.

            During the visit, Ambassador Busaya Mathelin paid a courtesy call on the Governor of Fatick and discussed about the current food security situation in Fatick. The Ambassador and the Thai delegation also observed the rice cultivation site and the multi-purpose gardens in Bicol, which are the resilience-building projects run by local women’s associations under the support of the WFP.

            The Thai delegation’s field visit to the WFP’s “Food for Assets” activities in Bicol, Fatick follows from Thailand’s contribution to Senegal – WFP emergency relief operation in response to the food crisis in Senegal in 2012. In October 2012, the Royal Thai Embassy in Dakar, on behalf of the Royal Thai Government and the people of Thailand, made a contribution of 8 tonnes of Thai rice worth more than 3.5 million FCFA together with the associated cost of 1.75 million FCFA to support the Operation. The Thai rice donated forms part of the WFP’s Food for Assets activity in Mabo, Kaolack. The project provides food assistance to vulnerable communities in exchange for the construction of gabions, which are walls made of wire and filled with rocks or broken concrete, to help restore tracks used in agriculture that became impassable due to water erosion and to improve access to and from the villages. The 8 tonnes of Thai rice will reach 936 beneficiaries in over 156 households in the rural community of Mabo where 176 meters of gabions are expected to be constructed.

            Thailand’s contribution in this occasion is an impetus for greater trilateral cooperation between Thailand, Senegal and the WFP. Thailand is committed to further strengthen this partnership, especially to build resilience for the Senegalese communities in order to combat against food insecurity and malnutrition in the long run, as food security and sustainable development remains high on Thailand’s priority for development cooperation.