OREANDA-NEWS. January 18, 2007. The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands donated $1,2 million to the Republic of Moldova towards alleviating the consequences of last summer’s drought in the framework of the United Nations project „Relief and Technical Assistance Response to the Drought in Moldova”, reported the Official website www.maia.gov.md.

Ron Keller, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Republic of Moldova, stated that the donation complements the UN support to the Republic of Moldova as part of the combined Moldovan Government and UN response to address the emergency needs created by the drought which seriously affected the country last year.  „We hope our donation will help solve not only the immediate needs of the Moldovan population, but also contribute to the creation of an efficient risk mitigation system pertaining to natural disasters”, Mr. Keller said.

The UN project „Relief and Technical Assistance Response to the Drought in Moldova” will be carried out through a period of six months, with a total available budget of 8 million USD. Until now, 20,500 farm households affected by the drought benefited from packages consisting of seeds, fertilizers and fuel. In the coming months, other 20, 000 socially vulnerable families will receive animal fodder to ensure their cows can be fed through the winter months avoiding the risk of slaughtering their animals, which would place household food security at risk.

Financial support to the project is furthermore provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the European Commission through its Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the Government of Norway, the Government of Italy, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The project is managed by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Population Fund, the United Nations Children Fund, other UN agencies and the Government of the Republic of Moldova as well as non-governmental organizations and local public authorities that are implementing partners of the project.