WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 682

Standard Project Report 2016
Annual Food Distribution in Country (mt)
Project Type
Cereals
Single Country
EMOP
Total Food
Distributed in 2016
Oil
Pulses
Mix
Other
Total
4,707 - - - - 4,707
4,707 - - - - 4,707
Supply Chain
During the IR-PREP period, WFP worked with logistics sector partners to evaluate the scope of Papua New Guinea
(PNG)'s logistics capacities and identify gaps in logistics coordination. Firstly, WFP and partners prioritised the
completion of a logistics overview of transportation corridors for use by the Government of PNG and the
humanitarian community. Secondly, consultations were held at the provincial level to identify bottlenecks in the
supply chain used for the existing distribution of food commodities and to develop solutions for delivery to final
distribution points; in some areas, for example, logistics sector partners facilitated the distribution of food that had
been procured and paid for but had remained in storage due to a lack of logistics coordination and resourcing.
Thirdly, WFP conducted an aviation assessment that identified commercial air-service providers, capacity and areas
of operation. Lastly, WFP surveyed the market of vendors and suppliers of rice in the country in preparation for a
possible emergency response.
Once the EMOP was underway, WFP utilised its supply chain preparations to conduct its rice distributions, all of
which took place in remote areas where road transportation infrastructure was limited or nonexistent. Such
conditions necessitated a diverse logistics operation relying on airlifts, transportation on the sea, and, where
possible, ground transportation.
WFP delivered fortified rice as the sole commodity. WFP procured fortified from local as opposed to international
suppliers as a matter of urgency since procuring from international suppliers would have required additional
time-consuming clearances. Local suppliers imported the rice from Thailand and Vietnam to the main port of entry
of Lae. WFP then relied on local contractors to transport rice from these ports to their final destinations. Any spoiled
rice, irrespective of when it was spoiled, was recovered by the supplier. WFP maintained records of spoiled rice to
ensure that all of it was recovered and not distributed.
WFP logistics and security officers provided oversight and guidance to reduce the risk of post-delivery loss of rice.
Despite these measures, WFP reported a loss of 0.06 percent—3 mt of the overall 4,710 mt of rice received in the
country in 2016 under the EMOP. Much of the incurred loss was caused by looting during distributions to insecure
areas of the highlands. Improved security measures of distribution sites in the cultural context of highlands
communities could minimise losses in the future.
A recurring challenge for WFP was the poor capacity of service providers to guarantee timely transport between
locations and accurately tally their stocks of rice. As a consequence, WFP spent more time than expected on
managing service providers and was faced with occasional operational delays. An additional challenge was
financing—WFP relied on existing partner capacity to process payments for service providers, and these payments
were sometimes delayed. Volatile weather conditions also proved to be challenging, with some weather-related
incidents causing delays that disrupted the supply chain.
WFP sought a cooperating partner with a more established presence in PNG to conduct the actual distribution of
rice in the highlands, where the bulk of the drought-affected populations were located. WFP selected CARE
International as its cooperating partner, but in August 2016 CARE withdrew early from the partnership agreement
based on security concerns. Despite b