World Food Programme - India the food aid arm of the United Nations
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Food For Work

Overpopulation. Cattle-grazing. Fire. Agricultural encroachment. All these factors are contributing to soil erosion and reducing forest cover in India. They are also diminishing the livelihoods—and food security—of those who have traditionally foraged the forests for food, fuel and fodder. Those who own land still suffer from food insecurity—without irrigation, farmers depend upon a rain-fed crop. On average, their land provides just four to six months of food per year. Thus, seasonal migration becomes a way of life.

To help offset shortages of food, WFP has partnered with the Forest Department to run a "food-for-work" program. During certain seasons of the year, state forest departments employ casual laborers to cut bamboo, tend nurseries, replant trees, and do other forestry activities. Few, other than the poorest of the poor, perform such labor.

WFP, for its part, provides food—wheat or maize, pulses and oil—to the Forest Department. The Department then sells the food at half the market rate, or 40 percent of the daily wage, whichever is less, to forestry workers.

Although participation in the food-for-work program is optional, many workers choose to buy WFP’s subsidized food because it allows access to food and saves income. There is a 25 percent increase in take-home pay, on average.

Other advantages of WFP food are that not only is it of better quality than what is offered at the market, but the Forest Department distributes the food near the work site, thereby reducing travel costs and time, making food more accessible.

Placing food in the hands of women

Women in particular like receiving WFP food-for-work rations. In Koylivav village in southern Gujarat, for example, female beneficiaries voiced their approval--the rations improved their families’ diets and the work was close to their homes.

In fact, despite WFP targeting one-third of food aid for women, female workers represent nearly half of all beneficiaries in the food-for-work program. In Rajasthan, for instance, they receive around 65 percent of WFP food rations. In other WFP-assisted states, women account for 30 to 40 percent of all food-for-work rations.

World Food Programme

2, Poorvi Marg, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi – 110057, India

Tel:91-11-26150000, Fax:91-11-26150019

Contact:

wfp.newdelhi@wfp.org