FAO and INGC are working partners in emergencies

Few days before the emergency team of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) arrives in the areas affected by the floods of the beginning of this year, in central and northern Mozambique, the Representative of the Organization in the country talked about the impact flooding had – and is still having – on agriculture and livestock in the region. According to Castro Camarada, coordination among the various actors and the rapid alert service have functioned well – "last year already we knew that January and February would be critical months". However, challenges remain, he said: "while the provinces of Zambézia, Nampula, Niassa and others suffer from floods, Manica is fighting drought right now". Camarada this Wednesday (18/02)* talked at 'Moçambique, Terra de Oportunidades' ('Mozambique, Land of Opportunities'), a TV show on agriculture and livestock in Mozambique.

Also a guest at the show was the spokeswoman of the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC), an FAO partner in emergency work. For Rita Almeida, another challenge is the need to "sensitize the population regarding low regions – much riskier but more fertile and thus more attractive as residence and farming areas – offering them viable alternatives".

Last January 12, the Government of Mozambique issued a red alert for the central and northern regions of the country. Rain flooded fields and isolated communities, destroying bridges and roads and shattering electricity supply and telecommunication. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, over 50.000 ha of farming fields got flooded, leaving more than 37.000 families in a situation of great food insecurity.

In the meantime, FAO has funds granted to provide immediate support to the 11.000 most vulnerable households in seven districts of the provinces of Zambézia and Sofala. The grants from the Technical Cooperation Program (TCP) and the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) shall benefit smallholder farmers in situation of food insecurity, whose crops have been destroyed by the January floods or whose production has been lost by 60 per cent and do not have alternative means (income or stocks) to access new seeds.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, local non-governmental organizations and community based organizations, FAO will distribute cereal and vegetable seeds as well as farming tools.

Apart from this, FAO is currently seeking 7 million USD within the Response and Recovery Proposal (RRP) of the UN to assist other 44.000 farmer families who wholly or partly lost their crops and livestock so that they can rapidly resume food production and enhance their resilience to future shocks.

Co-leading the UN cluster on food security with the World Food Programme (WFP), FAO will make efforts to coordinate the distribution of agricultural inputs with food assistance.

* The show will be broadcast in March by TV Miramar.