Urgent help needed for farmers

Two and a half million pastoralists and small-scale farmers face serious food shortages unless emergency assistance reaches them soon, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. The UN agency called on international donors to provide US $89.7 million needed to assist rural communities hit by five years of crop failure and drought. Although the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia was gradually improving, pastoralists and subsistence farmers remained “highly vulnerable” WFP said. WFP acting Country Director Benedict Fultang said that in some regions of Ethiopia “impoverished rural communities still cannot afford to buy food even when markets are well supplied”. An emergency operation launched on 10 April would cover the pastoral lowlands of southern and southeastern Ethiopia and the agricultural areas of Welo, Tigray, North Shewa, Harerge and Welayita, WFP said.