Farming and food supply threatened by AIDS

Subsistence agriculture across southern and eastern Africa faces long-term decline due to HIV/AIDS, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned.

After a major new agriculture study in Mozambique, the FAO said the AIDS pandemic had impoverished farming households and cut off the transfer of vital know-how about traditional crops from generation to generation.

FAO AIDS expert Marcela Villarreal said in a statement, "This study documents an alarming trend affecting millions of the poorest rural households. The problem affects not only Mozambique but also countries across southern and eastern Africa, where HIV/AIDS is just as big a problem."

In the nine African countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, all in southern and eastern Africa, FAO predicts a loss of agricultural labour as infected adults slowly become incapacitated and stop planting many varieties of crops.