FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2002
PROTEIN-PACKED U.S. SOY TO FIGHT MALNUTRITION AS PART OF AFGHAN AID PACKAGE
ST. LOUIS – U.S. soybean oil, a corn-soy blend and a wheat-soy blend soon will flow to Afghan refugees as part of an U.S. aid package administered by the World Food Programme (WFP). Anna Pavlova, a Washington representative for the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), said rations would provide protein critical for reducing malnutrition while delivering calories critical for winter survival.
“We have been encouraging the inclusion of soy protein in addition to other commodities so rations deliver more complete nutrition,” said Pavlova. “High calorie commodities can sustain people for a while, but if protein is lacking people often die from malnutrition rather than from starvation.”
Starvation and malnutrition are rampant in Afghanistan. Nearly half of children suffer from chronic malnutrition and one out of every 3 Afghan children is an orphan.
President George W. Bush recently announced a $320 million Afghan aid package, $195 million of which will take the form of food aid. The funds will be available through USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID sources said 80,000 metric tons of food aid has been shipped to-date. The exact quantity and value of soy products to be included is not yet known, Pavlova said.
The wheat-soy blend is well suited to the emergency situation in Afghanistan, according to Pradeep Khanna, Program Coordinator for the National Soybean Research Laboratory, University of Illinois. The precooked, ready-to-eat granular blend of wheat and soy can be consumed as porridge or used to thicken stew, Khanna said.
WISHH officials hope the WFP and USAID soon will approve additional, value-added soy products for use in food aid. Some of these include soy-fortified wheat flour, soy isolates and concentrates, textured vegetable protein and soy-fortified bulgur. Several of these products can easily be incorporated into flat bread, a staple of the Afghan diet.
“It is important that aid products be culturally acceptable and easily prepared in foods that are culturally popular,” said Khanna. “This reduces the risk of food aid being wasted or not used.”
According to WFP sources, increased U.S. aid has flowed to the Kabul area of late as conditions there became more secure. Hundreds of workers associated with non-governmental organizations began distributing 50 kilo rations of U.S. wheat there a week ago as part of an aid initiative that will feed 1.1 million persons.
Some Afghan aid rations are in the form of wheat and soybean oil, distributed by private volunteer organizations including World Vision and Catholic Relief Services, Pavlova said. Other food aid includes human daily rations (HDRs), containing bread and soup, typically delivered by U.S. Department of Defense airplanes. Actual distribution of the corn-soy and wheat-soy blends has not yet begun, Pavlova said.
USAID has worked since 1961 to address humanitarian crises with guidance from the U.S. Secretary of State. The World Food Programme, the United Nation’s front-line agency on world hunger, calls upon agencies such as USAID in its efforts. WFP last year fed 83 million persons in 83 countries. Nearly three-quarters were women and children.
For information about South Carolina’s soybean industry, call Margaret Owens, SC Soybean Association and SC Soybean Board at 803-734-1767.