The World Food Program (WFP) announced on Friday that around half a million refugees, mainly from Somalia and South Sudan, living in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps in remote areas in northern Kenya, will receive reduced rations from the WFP Programme as a result of insufficient funding.
"The ration cut of 50 percent, starting tomorrow, comes as WFP struggles to raise USD 38 million to cover its refugee operation for the next six months. This includes USD 15.5 million urgently required to address food needs through January 2015", explained the WFP Geneva Spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs in a press briefing.
"WFP has done everything it can to avoid reducing rations, using all means at our disposal to cover critical funding gaps, but cutting rations is the last resort and we're doing it to eke out the limited food we currently have available over the next ten weeks, as we continue to appeal to the international community to assist," she added.
Each month, WFP distributes 9,700 metric tons of food for some 500,000 refugees in Kenya, at a cost of almost USD 10 million.