FAO: Togos bønder får profit af europæisk støtte

Forfatter billede

EUs økonomiske støtte til landbrugsproduktionen i Togo har bidraget til at fordoble mange bønders udbytte i forhold til udgifterne ved produktionen, oplyser FNs Fødevare- og Landbrugsorganisation (FAO) onsdag.

LOMÈ, Togo, 3 August 2011: Togo’s rural population suffered the most from floods and sharp increases in food prices that hit the country in 2007 and 2008.

These shocks exacerbated malnutrition in rural areas, where it was already high due to demographic pressure and the collapse of cotton cultivation, a major cash crop. In 2006, almost 50 per cent of the population was underfed, according to figures from the UN World Food Programme.

In 2009, the European Union (EU) channelled 2,5 million euro (18,625 mio. DKR) through FAO to help over 20.000 of the most-affected Togolese farmers restart their production via the EU Food Facility, the Union’s worldwide response to the food price crisis of 2007-2008.

2 years on, there is a sea change, says Evariste Douti, Director for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in Togo’s northern Savannah region, which had been particularly affected. “The people have produced enough for themselves,” he says.

Kilde: www.fao.org