EU gives 15.4 mln euros aid to Zimbabwe farmers

Harare, 08 Oct-(ANA)-The European Union is providing seed and fertiliser worth 15.4 million euros ($22.73 million) to small-scale Zimbabwean farmers to boost grain production, an EU diplomat has said.

 The EU, which maintains sanctions against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle over charges of human rights abuses and electoral fraud, remains one of the country's largest donors, giving more than 510 million euros since 2002.

Mugabe and long-term rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government in February to try to end a political and economic crisis, largely blamed on Mugabe's drive to seize land from whites to resettle landless blacks.

Once a breadbasket of the region, Zimbabwe's farming sector has collapsed.

The head of the European Commission in Zimbabwe, Xavier Marchal, told a meeting of agricultural experts and donors assessing the preparations for the farming season that the EU facility was aimed at improving household food security.

"The EC, on behalf of the EU, has signed an agreement with FAO (the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation), which will provide 15.4 million euros to support self-reliance at smallholder farmer level in Zimbabwe," Marchal said.

"This programme is part of a wider EC policy aiming at moving this country from food aid to food security." (ANA)

FA/ANA/08 October 2009---