The World Food Programme works to make every drop count

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has marked World Water Day by highlighting its efforts to conserve and manage water in communities facing hunger and conflict. The WFP helps communities make the most of every drop of water by implementing sustainable practices such as rainwater harvesting and efficient irrigation systems.

At least 70% of countries where WFP operates are degraded and water-stressed/dry lands, while in others, water is abundant, but quality and access are compromised. To improve communities’ food security and nutrition in the long term, WFP and its partners help refill water into the soil and the below aquifers through Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) programmes, which in 2021 benefited 8.7 million people across 49 countries.

WFP provides food assistance while enabling communities to restore or build water irrigation canals, dykes, dams, as well as restore soil quality. These activities are often combined with school feeding, nutrition or climate insurance programmes to build packages aimed at making communities more resilient to shocks.

Since 2014, more than 220,000 hectares of land were rehabilitated across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, while 2.4 billion m3 of runoff water was harvested and 475 million m3 of groundwater recharged.