WINNIPEG – Hunger relief efforts by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank are getting a boost from the Canadian International Development Agency.
A new three-year partnership signed between the two agencies last month increases the bank’s fund allocations by $2 million annually to $18 million.
The agreement means CIDA will contribute up to $54 million, 80 percent of a $67.5 million food program on a matching grant basis. For every dollar raised by foodgrains bank donations, CIDA contributes four.
In making the announcement, Christine Stewart, secretary of state for Africa and Latin America, said the Canadian Foodgrains Bank has earned widespread respect in development circles.
Read Also
Petition launched over grazing lease controversy
Battle continues between the need for generation of tax revenue from irrigation and the preservation of native grasslands in southern Alberta rural municipality.
“It reflects confidence in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and its work in Africa and Latin America,” Stewart said.
The agency, which is owned by 12 church-related relief and development agencies, has grown since 1983 into the largest non-government food aid organization in Canada.
Projects to produce food
Ensuring food security means more than providing emergency food aid to the starving, said Stewart. There is growing emphasis on projects which help vulnerable populations in the developing world secure their own food supply.
Foodgrains bank executive director Al Doerksen said the agency should have little problem raising the necessary donations. “Canadian farmers, especially those on the Prairies, continue to astound us with their contributions.”
