Charity frees up funds to combat food crisis

The charity, Caritas Switzerland, is releasing SFr500,000 ($491,000) in emergency aid for countries suffering from the global food crisis.

Caritas said on Sunday that it was providing immediate aid to people in Haiti, southern Sudan, Bangladesh and refugees living on the Thailand-Myanmar border.

This translates, for example, into food rations for three months for around 20,000 families in Haiti and seeds for 10,000 farmers, Caritas explained.

The charity said it was cooperating with other aid agencies to provide 150,000 displaced people on the Thailand-Myanmar border with rice, oil, beans and salt.

The money from Caritas is also going to reduce the prices of staple foods in local markets in Mali.

Caritas said it is currently involved in about 100 projects in poor countries aimed at long-term and sustainable food security.