US government pledges $4 million for seeds

The US government has pledged some US $4 million for desperately needed seeds to help avert a food crisis in Ethiopia next year, US officials in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, said. The move comes after repeated warnings that Ethiopia is facing a major seed shortfall and that farmers around the country do not have enough to plant. According to a statement released by the US embassy on Thursday, the funding is to enable the government to start distributing seeds for cereals and pulses. The deal was signed between the US ambassador to Ethiopia, Aurelia Brazeal and Dr Mula Ketsela, Ethiopia's State Minister of Finance and Economic Development. A recent high-level meeting between members of the international community established that Ethiopia would need around 28,000 mt of seeds to avert a crisis. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), some $7 million would be needed to cover the cost. The FAO has warned that with the planting season coming to an end, the distribution must take place as soon as possible. The US has been the largest single donor in the effort to stave off the current food crisis in Ethiopia – where aid agencies say one in five persons faces starvation. Since July 2002, the US has provided some 878,000 mt of food aid worth around $403 million. Aid agencies say farmers have been forced to eat the seeds they would normally plant because of the severe drought and lack of food. Some have also fallen foul of farm extension package credit systems, which means they cannot borrow seeds or fertiliser until they pay back loans already taken out. Because of poor harvests, many farmers have been unable to repay loans and are caught in a vicious credit trap.