France to offer food aid for low-income families this fall

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - France on Tuesday announced plans to introduce a much-anticipated "food voucher" this fall for low-income households in a bid to fight rising food insecurity in the backdrop of the Ukraine war and surging inflation.

The news came from Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who explained on the France Bleu TV news channel that the assistance would start being disbursed in September on a per-family basis depending on the number of adults and children.

Payments will be made directly into families' bank accounts at the start of the school year, Borne said on the program Ma France, while discussing the while discussing the rising toll of inflation.

She said her government would table an emergency bill on the purchasing power in the country soon after legislative elections later this month, to allow for the implementation of the scheme that hopes to ensure French families can afford quality food products.

The food voucher was one of the major pledges that President Emmanuel Macron made on the campaign trail earlier this year, promising to set up such a program immediately if re-elected for nearly 8 million recipients.

According to Borne, the program will initially benefit the most low-income families in the country and will be expanded at a later stage so all French people can access quality organic products produced in France.

France has warned of a global food crisis due to the Ukraine war and has internationally floated the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM) initiative with the EU, G7, and African Union for the most vulnerable countries.