FAO doubles aid to North
Sep 05, 2007
THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has more than doubled its funding for the emergency relief and rehabilitation programme in northern Uganda.
By Josephine Maseruka
and Charles Ariko
THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has more than doubled its funding for the emergency relief and rehabilitation programme in northern Uganda.
The agency will this year spend $12.3m (about sh22bn) up from $5.1m (about sh9.2bn) which it spent last year on the activities.
The FAO representative in Uganda, Percy Misika, told a media workshop on Monday at Equatoria Hotel in Kampala that the money would service nine projects expected to benefit over 254,000 in Acholi, Lango, Teso and Karamoja sub-regions.
He said most of the support would focus on agriculture through inputs like seeds, hoes, axes, machetes, sickles, ox-drawn ploughs, oxen and small stock like goats and pigs.
Misika attributed the increased funding to the relative peace in the northern region as a result of the on-going Juba peace talks between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
He observed that FAO’s interest was to make the returnees self-sustaining and reduce their dependence on food aid.
Beatrice Okello, another FAO official, said over 7 million Ugandans are undernourished because they can not access adequate food and nutrients.
She said whereas access to food was a universal right, not many people can advocate for it, since they are ignorant.
The workshop was intended to sensitise journalists ahead of the World Food Day slated for October 16 at Kibanga primary school in Bugala islands in Kalangala district.
and Charles Ariko
THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has more than doubled its funding for the emergency relief and rehabilitation programme in northern Uganda.
The agency will this year spend $12.3m (about sh22bn) up from $5.1m (about sh9.2bn) which it spent last year on the activities.
The FAO representative in Uganda, Percy Misika, told a media workshop on Monday at Equatoria Hotel in Kampala that the money would service nine projects expected to benefit over 254,000 in Acholi, Lango, Teso and Karamoja sub-regions.
He said most of the support would focus on agriculture through inputs like seeds, hoes, axes, machetes, sickles, ox-drawn ploughs, oxen and small stock like goats and pigs.
Misika attributed the increased funding to the relative peace in the northern region as a result of the on-going Juba peace talks between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
He observed that FAO’s interest was to make the returnees self-sustaining and reduce their dependence on food aid.
Beatrice Okello, another FAO official, said over 7 million Ugandans are undernourished because they can not access adequate food and nutrients.
She said whereas access to food was a universal right, not many people can advocate for it, since they are ignorant.
The workshop was intended to sensitise journalists ahead of the World Food Day slated for October 16 at Kibanga primary school in Bugala islands in Kalangala district.