The world is very bad today. An estimated 100 million people have fallen into poverty in the past 2 years. Prices are expected to stay high through 2015. Two billion people are struggling everyday from high food prices and it threatens to a massive malnutritions and deaths. The World Bank has something to tell and must do something inorder to fulfill its purpose for living.

 Global Food Funds    

 World Bank approves $1.2b for food crisis. Loans and grant financing will be extended to poor countries, struggling with the effects of soaring fuel and food costs, including $200 million in grants targeted at the vulnerable in the world's poorest countries. WB will grant support for Djibouti ($5 million), Haiti          ($10 million), and Liberia ($10 million) and to Togo, Yemen and Tajikistan.

These countries have been identified as high priority based on rapid needs assessments undertaken in the field with the WFP, FAO and IFAD.

These $1.2 billion facility is designed to address food for work, conditional cash transfer, school feeding program, and food production  - by supplying seeds and fertilizers, improving irrigations for small-scale farmers and provide budget support to offset tariff reductions for food and other unexpected costs.

Boosts In Agriculture Support

 The world bank is boosting overall support for global agriculture to $6 billion from $4 billion over the coming year. New projects in agriculture and rural development will be supported in South Asia for over $1 billion. The bank will also double its lending for social protection, nutrition and food security to about $800 million. Its agribusiness and agriculture trade  related finance activities will be increased to over US$1.7 billion up from a current $1.3 billion this year.

Multi-Donor Trust Fund 

This trust fund is designed to complement the emergency food assistance activities of the WFP, FAO,and IFAD by providing immediate support for production such as seeds and fertilizers for the upcoming harvest particularly for small farmers.

Let me list down some of the World Bank's initiatives, actions and plans below to ease the world from food price impacts.

        * Launching risk management tools and crop insurance to protect poor                countries and small-holders.
        * Nearly doubling agricultural lending to Africa from $450 million to $800                million; and to Latin America from $250 million to $400 million.
        * Supporting over $1billion in new projects in agriculture and rural                        development in South Asia.
        * Doubling lending for social protection, nutrition and food security, and                social risk mitigation to $800 over the next year.
        * Providing $200 million to Bangladesh to help address the food crisis.
        * Providing $100 million to hard-hit Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire,                Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, and Niger to meet additional expenses of food            imports and to buy seeds for the new season.
        * Providing grants to Djibouti ($5 million), Haiti ($10 million), and Liberia                ($10) to feed poor children and other vulnerable groups.
        * Providing grants to Togo, Tajikistan, and Yemen over the coming month.
        * Working on irrigation and water management in Ethiopia, fertilizer use in            Malawi, market access for smallholders in Senegal, and crop diversification            in Mali and Uganda.
        * Preparing a food crisis related emergency operation to help Honduras                tackle effects of the rising food prices.
        * Providing financial assistance to Kyrgyz and Tajikistan for nutritional                    supplements to pregnant women, lactating mothers, infants and
           small children.
        * Conducting rapid needs assessments for countries impacted by the crisis,            including Burkina Faso, Burundi, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya,            Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
        * Urging major grain-producing countries to lift or refrain from bans on                food exports.
        * Working with other donors and agencies on the African Union's New                    Partnership for Africa's Development Program for agriculture development            in Sub-Saharan Africa.

These initiatives will indeed help address the immediate danger of hunger and malnutrition for billions of people struggling to survive in many countries. 

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 /// " 25 cents will provide one hungry child's meal.                                                        $15 will feed  10 children for a week " ///

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