UN organization still battles hunger World Food Day was celebrated October 16 [Archives:2002/43/Health]

PREPARED BY
ISMAEL AL-GHABERI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
It’s an occasion to assess the results of efforts by the international community to alleviate hunger in the world’s poorest countries, including Yemen, which now receives about $22 million a year in food aid from the UN.
At the same time, it is an opportunity for planning future policies and programs to combat poverty and hunger, and a day of information about food issues at all levels.
TeleFood is FAO’s annual campaign of broadcasts, concerts and other events dedicated to helping to reduce the number of hungry people in the world. This year’s theme for TeleFood and World Food Day is: “Water: Source of Food Security.”
Dr Hashim Gamal Ashammi FAO representative in Yemen currently handles a technical assistance program of 17 projects that total Yemen’s US $22 million in food aid.
Mr. Abdulmalik Al-Arashi, Deputy of the Agriculture Ministry said: “On behalf of the Yemeni government, I’d like to express my thanks to AFO’s continuos assistance to Yemen.
Water is a precious and finite resources. Although it covers three quarters of the Earth, only a small fraction is accessible as fresh water. Of the total amount of water withdrawn, almost 70 per cent is needed to produce the food that fuels human activity.
Looking 30 years into the future, FAO estimates that feeding the world’s population will require 60 per cent more food. Most of that increase will come from intensified agriculture supported by irrigation. But water is already scarce in many countries and the competition for water from industrial and domestic users countries to grow. So where will we find the water to feed the world?
FAO is convinced the answer lies in improving agricultural productivity and water efficiency. By using better seeds, boosting soil fertility and implementing other agricultural techniques, farmers produce higher yields, obtaining the greatest gains from precious water supplies.
And through more efficient irrigation methods and enhanced water harvesting, water is used to its best advantage. Thanks for these advances, we will believe it is possible to generate the additional food with only 14 percent more water.
Efforts will also need to be made to provide users with fair and equitable access to water. At the same time, environmental concerns must be addressed. Irrigated agriculture yields two to three times as much as rained lands, but can also cause salt build-up in soil and groundwater. And the overuse of water in one area can deprived people of access in another.
This year’s World Food Day theme, Water: Source of Food Security points to the essential role water plays in FAO’s efforts to help build a world without hunger. People are secure when they have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.
Currently more than 800 million people do not. We can harness enough water to feed the world, but we must introduce improved technologies and train individuals to use them, help guarantee fair and quotable access to water, and urge decision makers to develop policies that encourage sustainable water use. Our lives depend on it.

FAO programs in Yemen
FAO’s association with Yemen goes back to 1960’s. Since then it has collaborated in providing technical assistance in almost every aspect in food and agricultural sector from policy issues to marketing.
FAO currently handles a technical assistance program of 17 projects with a total budget of about US$22 million. Thus, currently FAO-Yemen technical assistance program is among the largest in the region.
Highlights of past and current
FAO-Yemen technical assistance cooperation are as follows.
– To date about 1,000 Yemeni officials have been sent by FAO for long-term and short-term training fellowships in different agricultural disciplines.
– FAO has assisted the country in building – up the institutional capacity of the agricultural research and extension, by training its cadre, establishing research and extension centers, developing extension curricula, providing extension training materials, text books and audio visual aids, and establishing a documentation center in Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.
– Together with production, emphasis has been put on crop protection, FAO has assisted the country in controlling crop pests and diseases, strengthened plant quarantine capabilities. Recently, FAO has assisted in effective control of Brown Peach Aphid in fruit trees through biological agents, resulting in enormous savings on pesticides and prevention of pollution.
– Yemen is a locust prone country. FAO has been assisting in controlling and combating this periodic threat to agriculture production. Recently, the work has been further systemized and strengthened by a special Program, EMPRES (Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary animal and Plant Pests and Diseases)
– It has also assisted the country in controlling major animal diseases. In September 2000 FAO assisted the country in the control of the outbreak of the Rift Valley Fever (RVF), which inflicted the livestock sector, causing severe losses to farmers, traders, and consumers. Major areas affected were the coastal areas in the western part of the country, i.e. the Tihama region, which includes the governorates of Hajjah, and Hodeidah.
– FAO has assisted in participatory demonstration of improved crop production technologies, identification of constraints and formulation of appropriate solutions.
– Yemen has given much attention to regional development as an important dimension of agricultural development. FAO has provided technical assistance to several projects such as in Hadramout and Shabwa funded from credit from IDA and IFAD. The projects’ objectives were improving production and productivity, irrigation systems, farming techniques, extension services, animal production, marketing facilities.
– In agricultural development environment is a central issue, FAO has implemented several projects with the objectives: to establish an effective regional network to exchange, to create national land use planning in order to make better use of Yemen’s limited land and water resources, to stabilize sand dune and control wind erosion.
– FAO has been cleaning up 262 tons of obsolete pesticides from more than 20 different sites in the country, which were accumulated during the past 30 years.
– One of FAO’s main objectives is to alleviate rural poverty. To achieve this goal FAO, with UNDP funding will be involved in implementing poverty alleviation and employment generation program in five selected areas representing five ecological zones, through establishing at the local community level fully functioning organizational framework and process for participatory planning and implementing community based social development.


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