FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION BRIEFING ON 2010

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UN ROME 000086

SIPDIS

STATE FOR IO
USAID FOR DCHA, OFDA, GH, FFP AND AFRICA BUREAU; USDA FAS FOR PHILBROOK AND SHEIKH; TREASURY FOR MORRIS AND GANDHI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: FAO AORC EAID PREF EAGR UN WFP
SUBJECT: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION BRIEFING ON 2010
HUMANITARIAN CONSOLIDATED APPEALS PROCESS (CAP)

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Summary
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1. On December 10, the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division (TCE) briefed
donors on FAO's component of the 2010 Humanitarian Consolidated
Appeals Process (CAP). At $7.1 billion, the 2010 CAP
addresses 12 major crises, covering the needs of 48 million
people in 25 countries, for which FAO's component is $222.76
million for agricultural inputs, veterinary medicines, and
training in Afghanistan, CAR, Chad, Kenya, OPT, Somalia, Sudan,
Uganda, West Africa, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Presently in 2009,
the U.S. is the third largest donor to the TCE, having
contributed over $18 million. In its briefing, TCE cited
Zimbabwe as the 2009 success story, where humanitarian
organizations joined under the FAO/WFP food security cluster to
distribute seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to over 700,000
families who saw their food production double as a result. This
cluster was also attributed as helping WFP in part to reduce its
food aid projections for Zimbabwe from $278 million in 2009 to
$58 million in 2010. End Summary.

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FAO Component of 2010 Humanitarian Consolidated Appeals Process
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2. On December 10, Assistant Director General (ADG) Jose Maria
Sumpsi and TCE Director Laurent Thomas briefed donors on FAO's
component of the 2010 Humanitarian CAP, which was formally
launched by OCHA in Geneva on November 30, and displayed the
8-minute OCHA film depicting three African families affected by
poverty, hunger and malnutrition. The CAP represents 400
humanitarian organizations jointly planning, coordinating,
implementing and monitoring responses to natural/manmade
disasters and complex emergencies, and appealing for funds in a
cohesive manner. For 2010, the $7.1 billion appeal addresses
12 major crises, covering the needs of 48 million people in 25
countries. FAO's component is estimated at $222.76 million for
11 of these crises: Afghanistan ($20),CAR ($2),Chad ($7.8),
Kenya ($13.75),OPT ($10.62),Somalia ($21),Sudan ($59.8),
Uganda ($10.2),West Africa ($35.9),Yemen ($11.8),and Zimbabwe
($29.2). The majority of FAO's projects address protracted
crises, providing needed agricultural inputs such as seeds and
tools to boost the food security of IDPs and other vulnerable
farming communities, veterinary medicines, and training. For
country-by-country details, please consult:
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/appeals/cap201 0. (Note: FAO
reported that Nepal decided to withdraw its CAP appeal due to
"negative image" concerns, but may launch a traditional appeal
at a later date. Likewise, an ongoing mission in North Korea to
review agricultural production levels may result in an
additional appeal. End Note)

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Funding Concerns
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3. ADG Sumpsi noted that FAO, with its agriculture, food
security and livelihoods partners - particularly WFP - had
analyzed needs, identified gaps, and planned and prioritized the
most urgent response for the donor community to consider. He
highlighted the overall progress in the funding of humanitarian
appeals, noting that the gap between the lowest and highest
funded appeal had been reduced, but stressed this was not the
case for the agriculture sector.


4. TCE Director Laurent Thomas acknowledged that humanitarian
crises have to be addressed using a twin track approach
combining safety nets and food assistance with interventions to
boost food production and address the root causes of the
problems. He stressed that the international community needs to
give greater importance to disaster risk management, including
early warning and vulnerability assessments, in order to enable
affected populations to respond timely to food security threats

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and emergencies. Thomas reported that funding for FAO's
component of the CAP and the agriculture sector in particular
remains low -- slightly under 50 percent (while funding for
"flash appeals," which agencies launch in response to sudden
onset crises, hovers around 20 percent). He promised to provide
analysis early in 2010 on funding issues.

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CAP Funding Examples: Zimbabwe and Central African Republic
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5. The significance of the CAP was illustrated through two
examples from 2009, Zimbabwe and CAR:

A) Zimbabwe was cited as 2009's success story. Due to
political interventions by Kofi Annan, Chair of the Alliance for
the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),with the Government of
Zimbabwe, 63 national and international humanitarian
organizations were able to join under the FAO/WFP food security
cluster to distribute seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to
over 700,000 families who saw their food production double as a
result. This project was also attributed as helping WFP in part
to reduce its food aid requirements for Zimbabwe from $278
million in 2009 to $58 million in 2010. Thomas stressed the
need for strengthening food security coordination capacities,
particularly at the country and local levels, in order to ensure
improved needs-based and prioritized responses and increase
humanitarian impact. The cluster example in Zimbabwe, he opined,
contributed to both the rapid availability of food and the
timely restoration of agricultural livelihoods.

B) Since 2003, CAR has been part of the CAP. Although donors
responded generously to food assistance needs, very little
funding was provided to sustain food production. Noting that
1.2 million people (or one-third of the population) are food
insecure, Thomas made a plea for donors to support agriculture
needs of IDPs and returnees.


6. The briefing was well attended and well received. Donors
focused questions on the political dialogue TCE has with
beneficiary countries which have the primary responsibility for
their own food security (TCE appeals, Thomas responded, are
designed in support of government strategies based on FAO
Strategic Objective I -- building capacities of countries to
prepare for and respond to emergencies, including during the
transition from relief to development). A question on internal
capacities during a process of reform revealed that progress has
been made in streamlining procurement and administrative budget
procedures, but the level is far from satisfactory, according to
Thomas. The U.S., echoed by Canada, remarked that the Zimbabwe
example should be advertised due to the five-fold savings in
food aid that would stretch the humanitarian dollar (Thomas
responded that TCE will embark on an improved communications
strategy in 2010).

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Comment
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7. During the past five years, FAO's agriculture relief and
rehabilitation portfolio has grown from $260 million in 65
countries in 2004 to $824 million covering 117 countries in
2008, in part due to increased donor confidence in FAO's
steadily improving response capacity. The emergency work done
by FAO's TCE now represents roughly 40-50 percent of FAO's field
program at any given time, drawing from the expertise of FAO's
technical divisions. One example is TCE's work to prevent
national and trans-boundary animal and plant disease outbreaks
-- expertise no other UN agency contains. Mission sees value in
continued support for this work.
GLOVER