The US government announced on Thursday that it was providing a further $50-million in humanitarian funding to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to strengthen emergency and resilience programmes already operating across a wide belt of Africa from the West to the East. (At the same time, $30-million was also allocated to the FAO for Afghanistan.)

“Through the US Agency for International Development, the United States will improve availability and access to food by supplying aid and technical assistance to small-holder farmers and livestock-dependent communities, focusing on wheat and livestock production,” highlighted US Ambassador to the FAO Cindy H McCain. “These funds will be used to help those most vulnerable – people displaced by ongoing conflict and consecutive climate shocks.”

The biggest single amount, $32-million, has been allocated to Ethiopia. This will be used to improve food security and resilience, through the purchase and distribution of crop seeds and fertiliser, to vulnerable households in the conflict-afflicted Tigray region.

Food security and crop assessments in Sudan will be strengthened with funding of $15-million. This will reduce the time needed for, and increase the effectiveness of, responses to current and future climate shocks. This funding will also be used to rapidly rebuild livestock reproductive capacity, mainly in households headed by women.

Conflict-affected communities in rural areas of Burkina Faso will benefit from funding totalling $2-million. This will be used to protect and rebuild the livelihoods of these communities.

The remaining funds will be used to strengthen the capacities of countries across West Africa and the Sahel regarding food security, nutrition, and resilience analysis and assessment. They will also be used to strengthen regional humanitarian readiness and response coordination in these regions.

“The United States is a long-term and committed partner to FAO in all its work,” she affirmed. “Together, we will continue to address the urgent needs of the food crisis while building longer-term resilience around the world. We urge our colleagues around the world to increase their funding also for FAO, the World Food Programme, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development to meet the unprecedented needs of these organisations caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.”