FAO launches appeal for emergency funds for poor countries
Regional, Agriculture, 2/23/2000

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has launched an appeal for some 145 million US dollars in support of emergency activities in the world's poorest countries.

The money will fund the recovery and rehabilitation of agriculture in 13 countries and the Great Lakes/Central Africa regions, which are suffering from natural or man made disasters, the organization said in a news release Tuesday.

Countries to benefit from the appeal's fund are Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, East Timor, North Korea, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tadjikistan and Uganda.

"The role of FAO is to support farmers in disaster and emergency areas so they can get back to producing food as soon as possible," the release quoted Anne Bauer, FAO's chief of special relief operations service, as saying.

The special relief operations service intervenes following natural disasters, such as drought floods, cyclones or hurricanes, crop pest infestations, epidemic animal diseases as well as damage caused by war, civil strife or political upheavals.

FAO's emergency assistance covers a wide range of activities to rehabilitate disaster-stricken areas.

For 2000, FAO is seeking support for projects in countries such as East Timor, Kosovo and Burundi.

FAO has launched a 25-million-dollar appeal to distribute seeds and fertilizers and to repair farm machinery for 70,000 rural families affected by the recent conflict in Kosovo.

In Burundi, 1.5 million people have received seeds and hoes to continue farming. About seven million dollars has been requested to support subsistence farming and to assist about 700,000 displaced people.

In 1999 FAO received funding for 125 projects in 43 countries around the world, from Central America to Africa and from Tajikistan to North Korea.

The activities ranged from locust control in Madagascar, aerial spraying against crop pests in Iraq, the distribution of seeds, tools and fertilizers to displaced people in the Great Lakes region and Central Africa.

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