Half a million farmers to get wheat seeds, fertilisers
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation to begin distribution in Sindh and then in Balochistan.
ISLAMABAD:
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will distribute wheat-seeds, diammonium phosphate (DAP) and others fertilisers among half a million farmers from the flood-affected areas to ensure sowing for Rabi season, its spokesman Ali Khan said on the eve of World Food Day.
He said that the famers have lost almost 600,000 tons of seeds due to the floods. Of the 22 million affected, 80 per cent are farmers who require immediate rehabilitation so that they can start farming as the Rabi season starts from September to November, he added.
FAO has already started the distribution of seeds, fertilisers and DAP in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In Sindh the distribution will start from Monday, followed by Balochistan.
The spokesman said that there could be a food shortage in the coming two years if the farmers were not supported in the Rabi season.
Meanwhile, on the occasion of the World Food Day, the FAO director general Jacques Diouf issued a message highlighting that as many 925 million people in the world are hungry.
The director general added that the theme of this year’s observance, “United Against Hunger”, seeks to recognise the efforts made in the fight against world hunger by all actors at all levels. He called for global unity to find resolute and concrete actions against hunger by producing more food in the countries where the hungry live.
“In 2009, the critical threshold of one billion hungry people in the world was reached, mostly due to soaring food prices and the global economic crisis. The gravity of the silent hunger crisis is the result of decades of neglect of agriculture and under-investment in the sector,” he said.
Therefore, on the eve of the “Hunger Summit” held in Rome, in November 2009, FAO launched a petition to reflect the moral outrage of the situation. The “1 billion hungry” project reaches out to people to sign the anti-hunger petition and to work together to amplify the message that society has to take special care that no one goes hungry. Over 1 million people have signed and the project is continuing.
World food production will need to increase by 70 per cent to feed a population of over nine billion people, which is the projected population for 2050. With limited land, farmers will have to get greater yield out of the land already under cultivation. Small farmers and their families represent about 2.5 billion people, more than one-third of the global population. It is their crucial contribution to increased food production that is needed to be highlighted.
Collaboration among international organizations plays a strategic role in directing global efforts to reach the international hunger reduction goals.
“On this World Food Day 2010 let us reflect upon our future. Agriculture and food security are finally back on the international agenda. And, with political will, determination and persistence, more food can be sustainably produced and adequately distributed”, said the director general.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2010.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will distribute wheat-seeds, diammonium phosphate (DAP) and others fertilisers among half a million farmers from the flood-affected areas to ensure sowing for Rabi season, its spokesman Ali Khan said on the eve of World Food Day.
He said that the famers have lost almost 600,000 tons of seeds due to the floods. Of the 22 million affected, 80 per cent are farmers who require immediate rehabilitation so that they can start farming as the Rabi season starts from September to November, he added.
FAO has already started the distribution of seeds, fertilisers and DAP in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In Sindh the distribution will start from Monday, followed by Balochistan.
The spokesman said that there could be a food shortage in the coming two years if the farmers were not supported in the Rabi season.
Meanwhile, on the occasion of the World Food Day, the FAO director general Jacques Diouf issued a message highlighting that as many 925 million people in the world are hungry.
The director general added that the theme of this year’s observance, “United Against Hunger”, seeks to recognise the efforts made in the fight against world hunger by all actors at all levels. He called for global unity to find resolute and concrete actions against hunger by producing more food in the countries where the hungry live.
“In 2009, the critical threshold of one billion hungry people in the world was reached, mostly due to soaring food prices and the global economic crisis. The gravity of the silent hunger crisis is the result of decades of neglect of agriculture and under-investment in the sector,” he said.
Therefore, on the eve of the “Hunger Summit” held in Rome, in November 2009, FAO launched a petition to reflect the moral outrage of the situation. The “1 billion hungry” project reaches out to people to sign the anti-hunger petition and to work together to amplify the message that society has to take special care that no one goes hungry. Over 1 million people have signed and the project is continuing.
World food production will need to increase by 70 per cent to feed a population of over nine billion people, which is the projected population for 2050. With limited land, farmers will have to get greater yield out of the land already under cultivation. Small farmers and their families represent about 2.5 billion people, more than one-third of the global population. It is their crucial contribution to increased food production that is needed to be highlighted.
Collaboration among international organizations plays a strategic role in directing global efforts to reach the international hunger reduction goals.
“On this World Food Day 2010 let us reflect upon our future. Agriculture and food security are finally back on the international agenda. And, with political will, determination and persistence, more food can be sustainably produced and adequately distributed”, said the director general.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2010.