02. 02. 10. - 12:00

Ministry to contribute €1mn for food aid

The Agriculture Ministry is to spend one million Euros this month on food and other aid for crisis areas around the world, the ministry has said.

It said yesterday (Mon) that half a million Euros will go towards food for Haitian earthquake victims through the UN’s Food and Nutrition Programme for Human and Social Development, and the remaining money will be spent to help people in need in Nicaragua, Mozambique and the Republic of Moldova.

People’s Party (ÖVP) Agriculture Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said: "It is our duty to help people in Haiti quickly and effectively. They are living in ruins caused by one of the greatest natural catastrophes in history."

He added 300,000 Euros would go toward food for people in northeastern Nicaragua, which was devastated by a hurricane in November 2009, and 100,000 Euros would be spent on seed to be supplied by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to farmers in Moldova.

Another 100,000 Euros would be contributed through the Food and Nutrition Programme for food for people in drought-ravaged Mozambique, he said.

Austrian farmers have meanwhile pledged to help farmers in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

The nine provincial agriculture chambers and the Raiffeisen group said they would contribute 30,000 Euros to support a Hilfswerk Austria agricultural project for 1,000 families in the Caribbean state.

Gerhard Wlodkowski, the president of the Austrian Agriculture Chamber, said the first step would be to assemble seed, fertiliser, animal feed and medications and farm machinery that Haitian farmers needed to be able to work again.

He said further action would be taken following advice from experienced experts. The focus would be on the area around Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and the northern part of the country to which many residents of the destroyed city had fled, he added.

The Red Cross, Caritas, CARE charity, Licht für die Welt and the Agriculture Chamber have set up accounts for donations to help Haiti earthquake victims, which can be made to:

CARE: PSK 1.236.000 (BLZ 60.000) – password: "Haiti";

Caritas: PSK 7.700 004, (BLZ 60.000) – password: "Erdbeben Haiti",

Austrian Red Cross (Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz): PSK: 2.345.000 (BLZ 60.000) - password: "Erdbeben Haiti";

Licht für die Welt: PSK 92.011.650 (BLZ 60.000) – password: "Haiti-Aufbauhilfe";

Agriculture Chamber: PSK account 90.311.400 (BLZ 60.000).

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