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UN agriculture agency launches two regional markets in Africa

UN agriculture agency launches two regional markets in Africa

Women processing cassava
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today launched two projects for east and southern Africa to modernize the subsistence farming on which some national economies largely depend and to promote local commerce and foreign trade.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today launched two projects for east and southern Africa to modernize the subsistence farming on which some national economies largely depend and to promote local commerce and foreign trade.

The first project will group Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda in the Great Lakes region. Agriculture there is highly dependent on rainfall and farmers will be encouraged to make their use of water more efficient and to strengthen their organizations through training courses and field schools, at a cost of $3 million, the Rome-based FAO said.

The second project, estimated to cost $1.5 million, is designed to improve cassava yields in Malawi and Zambia, with the aim of processing it commercially into such exportable items as starch, according to the agency.

“Recurrent droughts and poor yields of traditionally produced maize, which is oversensitive to climatic variations, have encouraged the widespread farming of cassava, making it Africa's fastest growing food crop today,” FAO said.

Both projects, which are being funded by the Italian Government, will rely heavily on spreading information to the most isolated farmers through local radio broadcasts.

The five beneficiary countries are members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a partnership established in 1994 to foster regional economic integration, and the projects follow the broad strategy agreed in 2001 by the members of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

"It is important that the countries concerned have committed themselves to giving priority to modernizing every aspect of agriculture, that is to say, from production to processing and marketing," said M.E. Chipeta, Director of FAO Policy Assistance Division.