Canada Donates 2.2Mln USD to Safeguard Agricultural Livelihoods Affected by COVID-19, Desert Locusts in Ethiopia

May 11/2021(ENA) The Government of Canada has contributed 2.2 million USD to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s program to safeguarding livelihoods affected by COVID-19 and desert locusts in Ethiopia.

FAO is implementing the 18-months “Support vulnerable communities in Afar and Somali regions to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 and desert locusts” 

The FAO Representative in Ethiopia, Fatouma Seid, thanked the project in Afar and Somali regions, benefiting over 21 000 pastoral and agro-pastoral households. Government of Canada for the funding, saying, “It will help FAO to respond to the immediate needs of the affected communities and set them on a path to recovery”.

Specifically, the project is providing pastoral and agro-pastoral households with supplementary animal feed, and facilitating vaccination, monitoring, and surveillance of common livestock diseases.

It also trains extension staff, Community Animal Health Workers, and communities on good livestock husbandry practices, it was learned.

In addition, the project enhances milk-trading businesses for 500 women by providing them with equipment and cash to purchase milk, packaging materials, meet transport, and other running costs.

It is promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture through social behavior change communication, training and cooking demonstrations.

Furthermore, the project is undertaking gender mainstreaming along the crop and livestock value chains and training about 70, 000 stakeholders in gender.