Farmers raise 200,000 for Africa

11 October 2000



Farmers raise 200,000 for Africa

By FWi staff

BRITISH farmers who contributed to a “Send a Tonne” appeal this year raised 200,000 in food aid for Ethiopia, said the charity Farm-Africa.

The farmers were asked to donate money to the value of one tonne of wheat in a scheme organised by Cambridgeshire farmer and broadcaster Oliver Walston.

The money helped the charity spend 3.5 million on African projects during the past year, benefiting over 613,000 people, said a Farm-Africa statement.

“Particular thanks go to the many farmers who contributed significantly to the Ethiopia Emergency Appeal, which raised over 200,000 in a couple of weeks.”

Claire Short MP is due to visit Ethiopia next month – the area in which Farm-Africa has concentrated its emergency appeal efforts to combat drought.

She is set to discover that the effects of the droughts have been seriously mitigated by on the ground development agencies such as Farm-Africa.

Reports by the World Health Organisation (WHO) have concluded that efforts to control the effects of the drought in some areas have succeeded.

Other initiatives, such as a dairy goat project in Ethiopia and a herders project in Northern Kenya, have also strengthened local resources against droughts.

• Ethiopian appeal, Farmers Weekly, 28 April, 2000
• Speakers pledge, Farmers Weekly, 21 April, 2000
• British farmers send food to Ethiopia, FWi, 17 April, 2000