The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has provided poor farmers in Burkina Faso with crop seeds to address the ongoing food crisis in the country, according to a news release posted on the UN website Monday.
Farmers in Burkina Faso, especially those in the eastern and central parts, have been hit by soaring food prices and severe weather conditions during the current planting season.
The FAO has supplied about 600 tons of seeds, including millet, sorghum, maize, cowpea and peanut, as well as 432 tons of fertilizer, to 33,000 farmers across the country.
"In the 15 provinces where FAO is distributing seed, under these circumstances less than 10 percent of the food needed will be produced to feed people. We hope to boost that considerably now," said the FAO Emergency Coordinator in Burkina Faso, Jean-Pierre Renson.
Food prices have been increasing steadily over the past two years in the country. In the capital Ouagadougou, the price of rice was 87 percent higher at the beginning of June compared with the same period the previous year.
The FAO is working on a plan to assist farmers to reap profits by producing more rice, partly through developing water control methods for low-land rice farming around rivers and flood-plains.
"In theory, Burkina Faso can be self-sufficient in producing enough traditional grains to cover its food needs, but severe weather has been ruinous for the past few years," FAO economist Benoist Veillerette said.
According to UN statistics, 23 percent of children in Burkina Faso suffer from acute malnutrition. More than 80 percent of the population make a living on subsistence agriculture, while 45 percent live below the poverty line.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article