USAID agrees to fund $25m agricultural projects in Yemen

The United States Agency for International Development(USAID) has agreed to finance agricultural projects in Yemen at a total cost of US$25 million during the next phase.During the meeting of the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Farid Mujawar withDirector of the USAID mission to Yemen Herbie Smith, the areas of cooperationbetween Yemen and the USAID were discussed.It was focused ,during the meeting, on the implementation of technical projects inthe field of modern irrigation and rainwater harvesting and in the field of livestockdevelopment .The minister highly valued the USAID's support to the development fields in Yemen,especially the agricultural sector, so as to enhance its role in providing foodsecurity.Mujawar pointed out that his ministry would focus on supporting small-scalefarmers in rural areas to alleviate poverty in those areas through convincing themof the importance of using the techniques and motivating them to move toward thecultivation of alternative food crops.He noted that farmers in many areas have suffered economic losses during thisagricultural season as a result of the lack of diesel, which is used to run agriculturalmachinery and irrigation pumps.In turn, the USAID's official pointed out that a workshop would be organized inApril to determine the high-priority agricultural projects for supporting them.Smith assured the USAID's willingness to cooperate and to support theimplementation of the agricultural projects that meet the needs of farmers in therural areas.