Grant Aid for the Increase of Food Production for Conflict-afflicted People in the Darfur Region, Republic of the Sudan (to be implemented through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO))

November 12, 2004

The Government of Japan has decided to extend a grant aid of 55 million yen (approximately 500,000 dollars) to increase food production for conflict-afflicted people in the Republic of the Sudan through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Notes to this effect were exchanged on November 12 (Fri) in Rome between Ms. Nobuko Matsubara, Japanese Ambassador to Italy, and Mr. Davaid Harcharik, Deputy Director General of FAO.
This assistance through FAO is intended to provide internally displaced people and local populations in the Darfur region in the western part of the Sudan with seeds of sorghum and other grains as well as seeds of tomatoes and other vegetables, and farming tools, with a view to improving the serious food shortage and also to promoting food self-sufficiency, thereby enhancing their self-reliance.
This grant aid will be implemented as part of the announcement made by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in his address at the UN General Assembly that the Government of Japan would provide additional assistance in the amount of 15 million dollars toward the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region (total assistance amounting to 21 million dollars including what Japan has so far provided).

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