South Africa donates US $15m for emergency relief

South Africa has donated R100 million (US $15 million) to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) for their emergency operations in Southern Africa. About R67.5 million ($10.2 million) of the donation will be used by the FAO for agricultural interventions to improve household food security in six drought and flood affected countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe - the regional director of FAO for Southern Africa, Graham Farmer, told IRIN. The "finer details of the interventions are being worked out" in collaboration with the South African department of agriculture, which would handle the technical aspects of the monetary assistance, he explained. The 2003/04 agricultural season was a challenging one for Southern Africa, where both drought and flood conditions were experienced in the same crop-growing season. The WFP would use R22.5 million ($3.3 million) of the donation to purchase emergency relief supplies in the six countries that have suffered food shortages for the last two years, said WFP spokesman Richard Lee. The remaining R10 million ($1.5 million) would be used by WFP to support the development of a vulnerability and information monitoring system to be established by the South African department of agriculture. WFP's regional director, Mike Sackett, said the South African money came at "a critical time, when we're facing serious funding and food shortfalls, so the contribution is very timely". The intervention would target "the preservation of livelihoods. The funds for FAO will be used to stabilise and even increase agricultural production, targeting both individuals and community-based groups," explained Farmer. WFP launched an emergency appeal for $311 million in July 2003 to feed up to 6.5 million people in the region through June of this year, but it was still underfunded by about $100 million. The agency has now extended its appeal period to 30 September to take late arriving donations into account and better assess the region's food needs for the year ahead. FAO's appeal in June 2003 for $49.3 million, in support of agricultural interventions and control of livestock diseases, is now just over 40 percent funded.