CHINA: Scores of blue-clad dock workers unloaded the last shipment of food aid to China yesterday, a historic moment as the fast- growing country marked the end of 25 years as a recipient of United Nations aid.
The merchant vessel Blue Dream, carrying 43,450 tonnes of wheat worth $7.2 million (€5.6 million), docked in this bustling port near the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Speaking on the quays as huge cranes began the process of unloading the wheat, Dominique Frankefort, the World Food Programme's deputy country director for China, hailed the country's success in alleviating hunger.
"There are fewer and fewer hungry people in China. The government says there are around 26 million ultra-poor left and the government will take care of them now," said Mr Frankefort.
Stevedores worked to unload the huge shipment. Unloading is scheduled to take about five days at the rate of about eight tonnes of wheat a day.
The captain of the Blue Dream, Go Gab Sun from South Korea, who helmed the big ship on its 14-day voyage from loading on Prince Regent Island in Canada, watched as the long process began in the high temperatures on the docks.
"We encountered three storms en route, with waves over seven metres high and winds of 45 knots. But I'm very happy to be carrying this cargo," he said.
"My first cargo as a captain back in 1987 was a food aid cargo and now I'm delivering this one. I'm almost sorry this is the last shipment for China.".
China, the world's most populous country with 1.3 billion people, had periodic famines up until the middle of the last century. With this in mind, the government started a programme of opening up the economy in 1979. Economic growth has been rapid although China has remained a developing country.
Driving on modern motorways through the wealthy southern city of Shenzhen, its skyline full of gleaming skyscrapers almost rivalling its richer neighbour Hong Kong,
it is hard to see where the food aid could possibly be going.
But this wheat is earmarked for distribution to more than 400,000 poor farmers and their families to support food- for-work schemes in four of China's poorest provinces: Gansu, Guangxi, Ningxia and Shanxi.
More than 60 per cent of the recipients of the shipment will be women and children.
During the 25 years that China has been receiving food aid, its government has lifted some 300 million people out of poverty.
Since 1979, the World Food Programme reckons that it has distributed nearly four million tonnes of wheat to more than 30 million Chinese.
The speedy pace of growth has led to new wealth in China, a country that has also put a man into orbit. However, this wealth has also led to a growing gap between rich and poor.
The richer cities of the eastern and southern coasts have seen massive development, but much of the dry central areas of the country are still poor.
The government's priority is to keep the gap between rich and poor to a minimum to ensure social stability and avoid unrest.
The UN humanitarian agency called on China to step up support for hundreds of millions of malnourished people beyond its borders. "China is now one of the world's leaders in fighting hunger," said WFP executive director James Morris.
"WFP has phased out assistance to more than two dozen countries over the past 10 years, but China's transition is by far the most significant. We need China's help and resources to apply the crucial lessons learned here to other countries still struggling with hunger," Mr Morris said.
China officially attained national food self-sufficiency in the mid-1990s, managing to nourish 20 per cent of the world's population from just 7 per cent of its arable farmland.
By 2000 the average per capita calorie intake of its rural population had reached 2,600 kilocalories, exceeding the internationally recommended minimum.
China has become a more important player in aid donations in recent years. It is a key donor to North Korea and is also making donations to countries in Asia and Africa, as well as to the victims of the December tsunami in Asia.
According to WFP figures, the number of hungry people in the world is rising, with some 852 million people undernourished worldwide. The agency provides food aid to an average 90 million people, including 56 million hungry children, in more than 80 countries.
As the crane dropped the first scoopful of wheat on to a conveyor before being shipped to China's dust bowl, you could see the WFP workers mentally crossing one country off their list.