São Paulo – Brazil’s National Supply Company (Conab) is holding an auction on July 10th to trade 1,000 tons of bulk hulled rice for the same amount of processed rice. The product will be donated to the population of Gaza, Palestine. The action is coordinated by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
The auction will be held online and is open to any rice producers who are able to deliver the requested amount. Only one producer can win the 1,000 ton batch, which is part of the federal government’s inventories. In return, the producer must deliver 1,000 tons of packaged, processed rice with export-ready documentation. The products must be delivered by August 15th at the latest.
“There was an invasion in Gaza last year, and this created an international appeal for aid, because the food insecurity scenario has deteriorated badly,” explained the minister Milton Rondó, the Foreign Ministry’s general coordinator for International Anti-Hunger Actions, regarding the choice of Palestine to be targeted by the action.
This will be the fifth food auction for countries in need this year. The prior auctions amassed foodstuffs for the populations of Guatemala, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Guatemala received cereals and the African countries received a combined 2,700 tons of rice.
The rice from this week’s auction will be shipped to Palestine by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa). “We load the product onto a ship at the Rio Grande port, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Unrwa takes care of transportation, distribution, and monitoring,” said Rondó.
The next auction for an Arab country will benefit Algeria. It should take place this year, on a date yet to be set. “The food will go to Sahrawi refugees in the Tinduf camp,” said Rondó. This action will involve both rice and beans.
Since 2011, Brazil is donating foodstuffs to people from countries in need. The actions have helped countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. By early July, over 328,000 tons of food had been shipped to impoverished populations around the world.
Those interested in taking part in the Conab online auction for the benefit of Gaza can read the auction notice at http://www.conab.gov.br/conteudos.php?a=1229&t= (in Portuguese). The notice for the Palestine auction is number 096.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
