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FAO okays $6.6-M food projects for RP


The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has approved three agriculture-related projects worth almost $7 million for the Philippines to address food security that is threatened by the ongoing El Niño episode, Ambassador Philippe J. Lhuillier said on Thursday. "I was told by [FAO] Director-General (Jacques) Diouf that the projects would help address food sufficiency and productivity," said Lhullier, who is the Philippine permanent representative to the FAO. The first of the three projects seeks to increase rice yields by promoting small-scale irrigation and integrated crop management systems in rain-fed areas. The FAO, a United Nations agency that leads international efforts to defeat hunger, drew funds worth €4.2 million (about $5.66 million) from the European Commission’s €1-billion Food Facility for the first project. The Food Facility is a fund set up in 2008 to help countries cope with the food crisis of 2007 and 2008. "We would like to prove and provide an option to farmers that even small-scale irrigation facilities may help cultivate rice and increase yield," Lhuillier said. At first, he said, the Philippines had a rough time getting the grant since the country was considered by the European Commission as a second-tier beneficiary. First-tier countries belonging to Africa were prioritized by the grant. But the budget were coursed through the FAO, said Lhuillier, who had to follow up its release. The second project seeks to restore of food security in Region IV-A (Calabarzon), where many rice fields were destroyed by floods in the last quarter of 2009, by providing agriculture and fishery inputs and technical support. The European Commission has allocated $857,000 for the food security project, to come from Spain but coursed through the FAO. The project is expected to benefit 10,400 affected farmers. Meanwhile, a technical assistance program to help the Philippines diagnose and manage Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome and other swine diseases will cost $445,000. The livestock program is a short-term project that aims to improve animal genetics and resistance to pests and diseases. The first two projects on irrigation and food secuity will run until 2011. — NPA, GMANews.TV

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