FAO has welcomed a $34.4 million contribution from the Government of Japan to deliver a wide range of assistance to improve the food security and nutrition of people in emergency settings, including internally displaced people, refugees and others affected by insecurity and natural hazards.

The contribution will fund 17 country and regional projects; including four in the Near East and North Africa (Lebanon, Palestine, Türkiye and Yemen); six in sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Somalia and a multicountry project aimed at mitigating the impact of drought for the most vulnerable pastoral and agropastoral communities in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda); four in Asia and Oceania (Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka); and three in Europe (one in Republic of Moldova and two in Ukraine).

Interventions range from emergency livelihood assistance to support conflict-affected communities in Ethiopia and Yemen as well as flood-affected communities in Pakistan; support to vulnerable herding populations in Afghanistan facing multiple climatic and economic shocks; recovery efforts in drought-affected East African contexts; support to fishers in Gaza, among various other initiatives.

“We are grateful to the Government of Japan for this generous and time-critical contribution,” said Rein Paulsen, Director of FAO's Office of Emergencies and Resilience. “In countries prone to weather extremes, natural resource limitations and conflict, rural people’s capacities to cope with multiple threats are being increasingly stretched, undermining their agricultural productivity and exacerbating their acute food insecurity levels. This contribution will help us to keep agriculture-dependent families on their feet by meeting their immediate needs, reducing their vulnerability to shocks and stresses and to build resilient agrifood systems.”

Boosting efforts in Ukraine

FAO’s work in Ukraine will receive more than $10 million to safeguard rural livelihoods and provide emergency seed support to smallholder farmers.

Ukraine’s agriculture sector is an important source of livelihoods for roughly 13 million Ukrainians living in rural areas. As the security situation continues to deteriorate due to the war, the Ukrainian agriculture sector is contracting rapidly, threatening the very foundation of the country’s economy, with serious consequences for broader food and nutrition security. The decline in revenues and reduced profitability among grain producers recorded in 2022 may substantially affect crop production in 2023.

Agricultural producers are in urgent need of support to sustain production levels while smallholders specifically require seed support. Under the emergency seed support project, FAO will provide spring seed support to approximately 3 600 smallholder farmers to enable them to protect their livelihoods and restore agricultural value chains disrupted by the war. Depending on access, activities under this intervention will be implemented in nine conflict-affected oblasts including Chernihivska, Donetska, Dnipropetrovska, Kharkivska, Khersonska, Mykolaivska, Odeska, Sumska and Zaporizka.