Sudan to provide 20,000 tons of Sorghum to Ethiopia

April 8, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan donated Ethiopian some 20,000 tons of sorghum in solidarity with its neighboring country which is affected by harsh drought condition in large parts of the Horn of Africa country.

By the end of last year, Ethiopian launched an international plea for $175 million in emergency aid. Mitiku Kassa, the minister in charge of disaster risk management and food security, said the number of Ethiopians in need of food aid swelled to 6.2 million from 4.9 million earlier this year — out of a population of 83 million.

According to a protocol signed on Thursday at the foreign affairs ministry in Khartoum by the Sudanese and Ethiopian government and the World Food Program (WFP), Sudan delivered five thousand tons of sorghum representing the first batch of the 20 thousand tons of the humanitarian assistance.

The agreement was signed the Deputy Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador. Abdallah Mohamed Osman, the Ethiopian Ambassador to Sudan Ali Abdou and the WFP representative Ammar Daoud in presence of State Minister for foreign affairs Sammani Wassila.

In its latest food security assessment from October 2009 to February this year the WFP said erratic rainfall caused an overall reduction in the harvest of the main agricultural season (Meher), estimated at 10-11% compared to 2008/2009.

Most pastoral areas and the eastern and central lowlands were affected.

However, food supplies and household food stocks improved due to the availability of the new harvest, the report noted.

(ST)