US launches $231 million programme on food security

The United States is to launch a US $231 million programme aimed at ending food insecurity, hunger, and poverty in Ethiopia, the US embassy said on Friday. The ambitious five-year scheme is designed to boost economic opportunities for impoverished Ethiopians in almost all regions of the country. It includes $19 million for a Productive Safety Net Program that aims to insulate impoverished farmers from drought and poor harvests, the embassy said. A further $100 million would be directed into the scheme as food aid. Five million farmers are to be targeted under the program. International donors and the Ethiopian government argue that the new scheme can build people's assets by providing support not just at times of hunger. But they say it needs to ensure that the disabled or other vulnerable groups will still have access to food aid or financial support even if they are unable to work. Safety programmes were backed by the G8 at their June summit in the US as a way of breaking the cycle of famine that stalks the Horn of Africa. It is one of four critical areas in the Ethiopian government's Coalition for Food Security. The coalition is a $3.2 billion action plan by the government and international donors like the US, World Bank and European Union that aims to reverse dependency in three to five years. Five million people are to be made "food secure" while the lives of a further 10 million are to be "significantly improved". The embassy also announced that $10 million would be provided to the government to improve the country's ability to "anticipate and manage shocks, such as drought, flooding, and conflict".