FAO to donate 12 mln euro to help Cambodia against drought

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will donate 12 million euro (about 17.16 million U.S. dollars) to Cambodia after the country was hit by drought, the FAO official said on Thursday.

"The budget will be signed with Cambodian partner on Sept. 2, but actually we have already helped in fighting against drought in the country," Seung Soy, program assistant for FAO told Xinhua by phone.

"The budget will focus more on helping the training, rice seeds, fertilizers, planting other agricultural crops for local farmers," he said, adding that the finance is from the European Union (EU).

"We also have concern on the food security after it is being hit with drought this year," he added.

Currently, eight provinces in Cambodia have been hit by drought and 40,000 hectares of rice seedlings have been affected by it.

"But Now, Cambodian government has taken actions to save rice seedlings from dry. We used water pumps to help farmers and we prepared seeds for local framers," Chan Tong Ev, secretary of state for Ministry of Agriculture told Xinhua. However, he said he could not comment about the budget, but waiting.

Source: Xinhua