The European Union (EU) said here Tuesday it has signed a 623.3 million birr (7.18 million US dollars) grant agreement with Ethiopia to aid those hunger- stricken people in the Horn of Africa country.

Under the agreement, the EU would finance the on-going safety- net program undertaken in various food-deficit areas of the country, according to a statement issued from the EU mission in Ethiopia.

The safety-net program mainly aims at ensuring food self- sufficiency among farmers through sustainable community development activities in various parts of the nation.

The five-year program, which would be carried out in 262 food- deficit woredas (district) of the nation, has a 1.35 billion birr (156 million dollars) budget every year.

Ethiopia is an extremely poor and overwhelmingly agricultural country, with farm products accounting for over half of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 90 percent of its exports.

Because of its degraded lands, poor cultivation practices, and frequent periods of drought, Ethiopia is chronically unable to feed its population and has to rely on massive foreign aid.

Source: Xinhua