FAO to help drought-affected farmers

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is to distribute seeds to about 30,000 families in Eritrea in a bid to offset the effects of the worst drought in 10 years.

In a statement, the FAO said the drought had hit all regions of the country, including the breadbasket areas of Debub and Gash Barka.

"The overall harvest of cereal crops realised in 2002 represents only 11 percent of the expected annual cereal harvest," the statement added. "Farmers also still suffer from the impact of the border war with Ethiopia. They have little cash left to buy seeds. Often, their limited seed stock becomes the family's only remaining source of food."

Under a US $400,000 scheme, the FAO will distribute 400 mt of cereal and legume seeds and provide technical assistance and inputs. It said this would enable about 15,000 hectares of land to be cultivated, ultimately yielding some 12,000 mt of food worth US $5 million.

However, the total seed requirement for Eritrea is about 16,000 mt and even with other pledges or contributions, there still remains a gap of 4,000 mt, the FAO said.

"Unless urgent assistance is provided to bridge the gap, about 100,000 farmers will remain without seeds and be unable to resume farming when the rains return in June 2003," it warned.

The FAO recalled that nearly two-thirds of Eritrea's 3.4 million population are facing severe food shortages, and an estimated 1.4 million need emergency food assistance.