The Russian Federation has donated $3 million to help FAO provide conflict-affected farmers and herders in Syria with critical livelihood and nutrition support. This is the first FAO emergency project funded by Russia.
The donation will enable FAO to support 60,000 vulnerable households (or 360 000 farmers and herders) in the area of Aleppo, who were severely impacted by the crisis, to restore their production capacity and improve their food security and nutrition.
The funding agreement was signed at FAO headquarters in Rome by Daniel Gustafson, FAO Deputy Director-General for Programmes, and Victor Vasiliev, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation.
“Large numbers of farmers have abandoned their lands in Syria because of insecurity, which has taken a devastating toll on their agricultural production and destroyed infrastructure and services. The costly and reduced availability of agricultural inputs greatly constrains local farmers,” said Gustafson. “Thus, our priority is to boost the local economy and contribute to reducing local poverty and improving nutrition of those most in need”.
“The project should provide the initial conditions for the socio-economic development of the country,” said Vasiliev. “We expect that the project will bring concrete and tangible results for the benefits of the most vulnerable populations in terms of restoring agriculture destroyed by the war”.
The two-year project will primarily focus on reviving the local economy, reducing poverty and improving nutrition for targeted groups. This will be achieved by assisting the most vulnerable households in boosting their vegetable crop, fruit and forest production and restoring irrigation infrastructure.
Enhancing livestock production is one of the key elements of the project since the livestock sector has suffered substantially since 2011 with reductions in terms of herd and flock numbers of over 30 percent for cattle and over 40 percent for sheep and goats, while poultry – the main and most affordable source of protein of animal origin – has shrunk by 60 percent.
FAO has designed this project in Aleppo, where 1.2 million hectares of arable land are available for productive use. Aleppo has been badly damaged by the conflict, particularly in the period 2015-2016. In 2017, the security situation improved, allowing for recovery and resilience-building interventions to be implemented to help returnees resume their production activities and restore their livelihoods.
Original source: FAO
Published on 19 December 2018