WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- State and county Farm Bureau
organizations across the United States gathered donations totaling $60,000,
and today a check for that amount was presented to the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) to help affected farmers, in tsunami devastated
regions, regain their livelihoods.
"Thanks to the generosity of our members we are able to contribute to FAO
to fund projects in the tsunami-affected area," said Mr. Bob Stallman,
President, American Farm Bureau Federation. The money will be used as part of
the FAO/TeleFood: Tsunami Reconstruction Program.
The small-community-size projects, which cost between $5,000 and $10,000
each, help poor families produce more food. None of the money will be used
for administrative costs by the U.N. organization.
Charles H. Riemenschneider, FAO Director for North America, accepted the
check on behalf of his Organization and thanked the American Farm Bureau
Federation, the largest U.S. farmer organization, for stepping up to help
fellow farmers on the other side of the globe.
The generous donation FAO received today reflects the heightened sense of
solidarity shared by members of the American Farm Bureau Federation with
surviving farmers in South East Asia, said Riemenschneider.
Donations fund small, self-contained agriculture and livestock projects,
seeds (such as rice and other cereal crops), tools (shovels, hoes, water cans)
and other agricultural inputs for the rapid rehabilitation of food crop
production for the next season. Since the launch of TeleFood campaign in
1997, the TeleFood Special Fund has financed more than 1850 projects in 125
countries.
For more information on TeleFood campaign and projects, visit
http://www.telefood.com.
SOURCE Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
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Related links:
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom
http://www.telefood.com
CONTACT:
Michael Hage, Media Relations of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, +1-202-653-0011,
or michael.hage@fao.org
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