The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has approved a sum total of US$21 million to provide assistance to small farmers covering 54 countries. The effort is to make available agricultural inputs as an effective measure on soaring food prices.
The negative effect of rising food prices all over the world has been a major concern for the international communities and so various measures to boost the food production. FAO has launched a series of emergency programmes to meet the needs of small farmers in terms of seeds, fertilizers and other tools they need to carry on their agricultural activity.
Funded by the Technical Cooperation Programme – i.e. FAO's own resources – they are a part of FAO’s Initiative on soaring food prices (ISFP), the projects will provide vulnerable section to agricultural inputs as of this month for an expected duration of one year, said FAO on release statement.
FAO initiatives launched in December 2007 aim not only to respond to the price rise or food crisis by helping impoverished farmers but also eye for a better planting season by supplying key agricultural inputs, which in turn can increase the food production as a whole.
Increased food production would help cushion small farmers, who often have to buy a part of their food from markets with rising food prices which would, hopefully, lead to a surplus production that could be sold thus helping to bring price back down.
According to FAO experts, the provision of supplying seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs to small farmers is only to encourage development partners including government, financial institutions - to contribute to similar projects, but on a large scale.
The unparalleled hike in food prices, with a rise of 52 percent between 2007 and 2008, has had severe economic, social and political consequences in poor and developing countries. Moreover, high prices of agricultural inputs have become a prime hindrance in facilitating agriculture in developing countries.
The UN organisation also mentioned that the amount is just for a small period and more and more fund will be needed in future to revive agricultural systems that have been neglected for several decades.
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