FAO uses Swedish aid to help 53,000 vulnerable households

Some 53,000 vulnerable households in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are due to benefit from a US $1.2-million Swedish donation to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the agency reported. In a statement, FAO said on Tuesday that part of the donation would be used to help rehabilitate agricultural and fishing production by delivering emergency seeds, agricultural and fishing inputs to displaced and returning households in the provinces of Kasai, Equateur and Kinshasa, in western Congo. FAO will also carry out strategic interventions designed to revive small animal breeding activities in Kasai Occidental and Orientale provinces. "And in order to offset the lack of available planting material in the regions, a seed multiplication programme will be implemented, which will allow households to cultivate some of their basic food requirements," FAO reported. It said reviving fishing and animal breeding would improve the nutritional status of the populations in the targeted areas as families would be able to have more animal proteins in their diet. At present, populations in these areas consume 40 percent less animal proteins than is recommended. Funds from the Swedish donation will also be used to assist malnourished children in supplementary and therapeutic feeding centres in western Congo, FAO reported. FAO said that households targeted had been displaced by prolonged insecurity in the country, which meant that families had been unable to cultivate their farms and undertake normal activities. But as displaced households start to return to their areas of origin, they require assistance with basic inputs to help them resume their livelihoods, the agency reported. In eastern Congo, money from the Swedish donation would be used to rehabilitate 55 km of feeder roads – those linking production centres to markets – in the province of North Kivu. "With this donation from the Swedish government families in rural and urban areas in the DRC, will be able to meet their basic food needs and to enhance their long-term self-reliance," Daniele Donati, FAO emergency coordinator for Africa, was quoted as saying.