Burkina Faso: UN agency helps poor farmers tackle food crisis
14 July 2008 - Poor farmers in Burkina Faso who have been hit by soaring food prices and severe weather conditions have been boosted
by supplies of crop seeds from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
In all, FAO has supplied about 600 tons of seeds, including millet, sorghum, maize, cowpea and peanut seeds, as well as
432 tons of fertilizers, to 33,000 farmers in the country's eastern and central zones in time for the current planting
season.
"In the 15 provinces where FAO is distributing seed, under these circumstances less than 10 per cent of the food needed
will be produced to feed people. We hope to boost that considerably now," Jean-Pierre Renson, FAO Emergency Coordinator
in Burkina Faso, said.
Food prices across the region have been increasing steadily over the past two years mirroring outside pressures from
international markets. In the capital, Ouagadougou, rice was 87 per cent higher at the beginning of June compared with a
year before.
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 floodplains.
"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.
In the country as a whole 23 per cent of children suffer from acute malnutrition. More than 80 per cent of the
population makes a living on subsistence agriculture, and 45 per cent of people live below the poverty line.
ENDS