EC announces US $9 million for drought victims

The European Commission (EC) announced a further US $9 million for drought-stricken Tajikistan to fund programmes over the next 12 months providing food for thousands of people, an EC official confirmed to IRIN on Friday. "The humanitarian situation is still pretty serious in Tajikistan," spokesperson for the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), Michael Curtis in the Belgian capital, Brussels said. The bulk of the money will be spent on providing basic food for 55,000 people, including 15,000 children suffering from acute or severe malnutrition. "Moderate and severe malnutrition have risen in children under the age of five significantly over the past few years along with infant mortality rates," Curtis said. Tajikistan is one of the poorest of the five Central Asian republics and is still grappling with the after effects of a bloody civil war. "The Tajik economy collapsed following the fall of the Soviet Union and this has been exacerbated by the ongoing drought," he explained. In total, 27,000 vulnerable households in rural areas will be assisted under the programme. The Khatlon province in south western Tajikistan was hardest hit by the two-year drought and will be an area of focus. The World Food Programme (WFP) has been supplying food aid to the country since 1993. In 2001, WFP and FAO estimated that a million people were in need of emergency food aid and recommended a further 90,500 mt of emergency food aid for a period of nine months between October 2001 and June 2002. However, those in need still require 7,000 mt of pulses. An even more pressing issue is the upcoming harvest in July. "The rains this year have been good to average and we hope this will help produce a good crop and alleviate some of their suffering," regional public affairs officer for WFP, Khaled Mansour told IRIN in Islamabad. WFP in collaboration with the government, has helped Tajik farmers receive leased land for a period of four years in order to cultivate agricultural crops, mainly wheat and maize. The food agency also provides beneficiaries with wheat flour during the first year to feed their families while they tend to the land and await the harvest. "There will be a crop assessment mission in July to report on this years harvest," Mansour added. Another important need targeted by ECHO is the lack of drinking water and some 250,000 Tajiks will gain better access to drinking water under the EC Global Plan project. "Our implementing partners will be concentrating on rehabilitation of pumping stations, installation of hand pumps and public health awareness on water borne diseases. Special projects aimed at reducing infectious diseases, incidents of which are rising, would also be funded by the ECHO money. A better primary health care system for a country with a population of 6.3 million people would be a priority, Curtis said. Although Tajikistan has benefited significantly from aid compared to previous years, due to its close proximity to Afghanistan, Curtis said ECHO would continue to place emphasis on this country as part of its mandate to help victims of a forgotten crisis. The projects will be implemented by partners including NGOs, UN agencies, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. Tajikistan has received over US $113 million euros in humanitarian aid from the EC since 1993.