UN urges aid for typhoon-hit farmers in Philippines

The UN agriculture agency has called for assistance for Philippine farmers in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, a UN spokesperson said.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) cautioned that ” immediate assistance from the international community for farmers in the Philippines is critical to avoid a double tragedy befalling the rural survivors of Typhoon Haiyan,” reported Xinhua on Wednesday citing Martin Nesirky, spokesperson for UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

FAO urged the donor community to urgently step forward and provide “more than $11 million to help those in rural areas clean and clear agricultural land and de-silt irrigation canals” in the aftermath of the devastation caused by the typhoon, Nesirky said.

The Philippine Department of Agriculture has requested that FAO support this cash-for-work scheme, which would cover more than 150, 000 hectares and some 80 km of communal irrigation canals.

The latest call for assistance is in addition to the $20 million already requested by FAO “to help typhoon-affected farmers plant, fertilise, irrigate and maintain their crops to ensure the next harvests in 2014,” the UN official said. 

-IANS