The government of Japan has donated US$3 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to purchase food for 44,000 of the worst affected families in Afghanistan, WFP said on Monday in the capital Kabul.

The donation comes after the WFP office in Afghanistan warned in May that millions of Afghans were in a destitute condition and could face severe hunger if more than US$30 million was not provided to the UN agency.

‘WFP is extremely grateful for the timing and the nature of Japan's contribution. It is exactly the kind of support that these desperate people deserve,' said Rikki Malik Lali, WFP acting representative in Afghanistan.

The first 12-truck convoy carrying 127 mt (metric ton) food commodities purchased with this Japanese donation have departed from the WFP warehouse in Kabul today [Monday]. The convoy will go to the people in need in remote areas of the northeastern Badakhshan province, Ebadullah Ebadi, public information officer of WFP told IRIN in Kabul.

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