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BURUNDI: US $75 MILLION EARMARKED TO FEED DROUGHT-AFFECTED POPULATIONS February 1, 2006
Apunyu Bonny
(SomaliNet) Burundian government has earmarked a sum of US $75 million out of its total $168 million emergency plan for 2006 to feed the country's drought-affected populations. IRIN reported Tuesday.
The government has informed donor countries and diplomats that it will distribute food to 460,000 families - 30 percent of the country's seven million people - between March and May.
The most hit areas include northeast and southeast, which are suffering from a drought following poor rainfall and a prolonged dry season. Thirteen out of 17 provinces in Burundi need food assistance, according to the government.
The country's hunger-stricken people would be given beans, maize and flour, and would also receive fertilizers and selected seeds in February and March. Gerald Muringa, the director-general in the Ministry of Planning and National Reconstruction, revealed.