Uganda's State Minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness Musa Ecweru (R) and Chinese ambassador to Uganda Zheng Zhuqiang (C) attended the food aid handover ceremony on May 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Joseph Kiggundu)

KAMPALA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday donated emergency food aid worth 5 million U.S. dollars to Uganda to support World Food Program (WFP) projects in the semi-arid northeastern region also known as Karamoja.

Handing over the food aid to Uganda at the WFP warehouse, Zheng Zhuqiang, Chinese Ambassador to Uganda said the money was got from the South-South Cooperation Fund and will benefit vulnerable women, children below the age of two years and school going children.

He said the emergency food aid project is also an important part of the implementation of the cooperation initiatives announced in the Forum on China Africa Cooperation summit held in 2015 in South Africa.

El Khidir Daloum, WFP Country Director said the relief food which will last 10 months will enable over 130,000 children have two meals a day at school instead of one and they will be encouraged to attend and concentrate better in their classes.

Daloum said over 96,000 women and children will receive nutritional fortified food that will cure acute malnutrition or prevent stunting, a damaging condition that affects more than a third of young children in Karamoja.

"This contribution is very timely and critical for WFP, as we were facing funding shortages for nutrition and school feeding activities in Karamoja. Last year we had to reduce the number of school meals from two to one," he said.

Musa Ecweru, minister of state for disaster preparedness and refugees, said that over the last six decades, Karamoja which has faced long dry spells has depended on food aid.

He said government is working with partners to ensure that the region is food secure.