E. Samar, Leyte get $410,000 donation from Spain

MANILA, Philippines - The Spanish government has donated $410,000 to help rehabilitate agriculture-based livelihood of 2,500 families in flood-stricken areas of Eastern Samar and Leyte, an Agriculture department press release Friday read. The year-long project will include providing farmers and fisherfolk with inputs such as planting materials, fertilizers, poultry and livestock and aquaculture inputs, technical assistance and capacity building measures. Heavy rains early this year affected estimated 532,000 people in 982 barangays in the region, killing 23 of them in Eastern Samar, and destroying or damaging over 4,400 houses. The calamity also caused more than P1 billion in infrastructure damage and another P328 million in agriculture and fisheries losses, data from the National Disaster Coordinating Council show. The rehabilitation efforts, to be implemented by the Agriculture department and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain, in cooperation with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation. The joint field assessment by the department and FAO team last March showed that flood-hit farmers in the region were at high risk of losing food security because of their loss of farm production for both cash income and home consumption, Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said in the statement. Officials from the department, FAO and Spanish government signed the agreement last week. - BusinessWorld