Nyamebekyere, (Ash), Oct.15, GNA - The government has began the payment of emergency relief funds to some selected very poor households throughout the country to mitigate the effects of the global food crisis as well as drought and floods, which had affected the food production of these people.

The programme dubbed Emergency Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is expected to benefit about 21,000 households in twenty districts in seven regions of the country. Each household would receive GH¢15 per month for a period of seven months.

Mrs Angela Asante Asare, National Co-ordinator, Social Protection at the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment made this known at the beginning of payment to beneficiaries in five communities in the Amansie West district of Ashanti on Tuesday. 210 households from each of the communities would benefit from the fund. The beneficiary communities were Nyamebekyere, Nnipankyeremia, Pakyi number five and six as well as Nnipanhandan. Mrs Asare said the LEAP programme was a mainstream government policy for the protection of the extremely poor, who finds it difficult accessing quality food, education and health.

She said the Emergency LEAP programme was to support the needs of the very poor to enable them to access basic social services. This, according to Mrs Asare, would relieve them of extreme poverty and help them to use part of their meagre incomes to engage in income generating activities to improve their living conditions. She said the programme, which is being supported by the World Bank, would help mitigate the social and economic hardships faced by the very poor households in disaster prone areas.