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Africa: Catholic Charity Launches Global Food Crisis Response
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Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
8 August 2008
Posted to the web 8 August 2008
Baltimore
Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the charity and development arm of the American Catholic Church, has set aside an initial 1 million dollars to help hungry people in a half dozen countries as the global food crisis worsens.
This initial response targets countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
CRS is pursuing a two-pronged strategy of providing food, cash and vouchers to meet the immediate needs of those struggling to cope with rising food prices, particularly the urban poor, while also supporting smallholder farmers to increase crop production and improve market access.
"This is the first salvo in what will be a long-term response to a long-term crisis," said CRS President Ken Hackett. "This food crisis is just beginning. By early next year, it will be deeper and broader as more segments of society are pushed into poverty by the combination of higher prices for food and energy worldwide. We must act now."
Priority projects in this new initiative include Ethiopia, where food will be bought for the urban poor, to be distributed by the Missionaries of Charity. The food crisis in the urban areas of Ethiopia, where the Missionaries of Charity operate their homes for the poorest of the poor, is dire, CRS said. The sisters have seen a major increase in demand for their support.
In Burkina Faso, CRS will provide seeds and fertilizer to increase rice production. In June, the charity began supporting a "quick start" action to provide rice farmers with fertilizer and more productive seed varieties that will increase production and subsequently farmers' incomes. CRS and their partners will also support farmers in marketing their rice.
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The other priority countries are Afghanistan, Indonesia, Guatemala and Moldova.
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