Aid for East Africa, now and in the future – FAO/WFP

By John Chola – Lusaka/29-07-2011
The food and agriculture organisation of the UN (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) have welcomed the international community’s determined mobilization in response to the situation in the Horn of Africa.
In a statement released today, the two organisations say this follows he emergency meeting on the food and humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa held in Rome on 25 July at the request of the French Presidency of the G20.
They add that this mobilization is aimed first of all at meeting the challenges of the humanitarian and food emergency by coordinating the response of international agencies and humanitarian organizations and by raising the funds required.
They say beyond the emergency, it will be necessary to put into place the long-term solutions needed to guarantee food security in the Horn of Africa.
There will be no sustainable solution to the crisis without measures that enable the countries of the region to become food self-sufficient, develop food crop production and support pastoralism and massively reinvest in agriculture and livestock-raising in the region.
FAO and WFP welcome the fact that the French Presidency of the G20 has put agriculture and food security at the top of its priorities and hail its initiatives such as the Action Plan on Food Price Volatility and Agriculture to mobilize the international community in support of the Horn of Africa’s food security.
They say that that mobilization must not diminish.
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