FAO to assist vulnerable Zim farmers with seed, fertilizer

FAO to assist vulnerable Zim farmers with seed, fertilizer
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 12:11:00 AM

THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said it will give about 176,000 vulnerable Zimbabwean farmers seeds and fertilisers for the coming farming season.
FAO's emergency coordinator in Zimbabwe Jean-Claude Urvoy said the US $15 million scheme, which is being done in conjunction with the European Union, could possibly double food production this season compared to the previous season when the country reaped 1.2 million metric tonnes.

"With good seasonal rains, timely implementation and effective coordination, farmers' production in Zimbabwe could feasibly more than double this season, compared to the previous year's national average production level," he said

The beneficiary farmers, who represent between 10 and 15 per cent of farmers in the country, will each receive enough maize or sorghum seeds and fertiliser to plant a 0.5 hectare lot.

The EU, through its Food Facility, has committed US $1 billion over three years to quickly respond on a large scale to global hunger exacerbated by high food prices and the global economic crisis.

Funds from the initiative are channelled through UN agencies and other organisations, with FAO having received US $200 million for work in 25 countries, of which US $15 million is earmarked for Zimbabwe.

Urvoy said the EU funding would allow vulnerable farmers to move past subsistence to having surplus crops to sell for basic households needs, including paying for their children's school fees.

"Many farmers in Zimbabwe can't afford to buy enough inputs," Urvoy said.

Last month, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the situation in the country remained acute, with not enough food to feed all 12.5 million Zimbabweans and with funding requirements to provide urgently-needed aid only half met.

According to an assessment by FAO, World Food Programme (WFP) and the Zimbabwean government, only 1.4 million metric tonnes of cereal will be available domestically, compared to the more than two million metric tonnes needed.

The assessment found that even with commercial imports, there will be a cereal deficit of 180,000 metric tonnes for 2009-2010.