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Christian Aid releases emergency funds for farming crisis
Alex Bell , SW Radio Africa
October 14, 2008

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news141008/christianaid141008.htm

Farmers in Zimbabwe's Midlands province are being given a desperately needed helping hand by the UK's Christian Aid organisation, which has released emergency funds to provide seeds and conservation farming tuition to farmers for a year.

The UN has warned that half of the country's population will soon face starvation and John Holmes, the UN's humanitarian chief, has called for urgent measures to provide seed and fertiliser for next year's harvest to avoid millions more people becoming reliant on aid.

The Midlands province is one of the worst affected regions of Zimbabwe and UN assessments show that the area is battling a severe food crisis. Farmers unions meanwhile have predicted that food aid will be crucial for the next eighteen months at least, because of the poor harvest projections as a result of a the lack of seed and fertiliser.

Christian Aid's grant of more than £50,000 will provide a targeted 118 families and three primary schools with seeds and conservation farming techniques for a year. The organisation's UK representative, Judith Melby, told Newsreel on Tuesday the group is providing special drought-tolerant seeds that will be combined with farming techniques that preserve water and improve the soil's capacity to retain water.

Melby said Christian Aid has been using these techniques in Zimbabwe for some years now and added that in parts of arid Matabeleland, "farmers have improved their yields by as much as 50 per cent." Melby explained that the funds will also improve nutrition for those persons living with HIV and will provide alternate sources of income with the sale of produce.

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