FAO post-flood emergency recovery plan offers a helping hand to most vulnerable farmers

As part of the UN’s floods response and early recovery plan. Sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and FAO’s Emergency Fund, this initiative is dedicated to assisting the farming households affected by the January 2023 floods. Since the projects’ inception in May 2023, FAO has identified farmers’ main recovery needs and closely cooperated with the municipalities and the Emergency Management Agency to support those in need.

Rahovec/Orahovac, a primary beneficiary municipality, hosted an event to inaugurate the financial assistance on 13 September. Over 910 farming households from municipalities of Gjakovë/Đakovica, Istog/Istok, Klinë/Klina, Leposaviq/Leposavić, Mitrovica Jugore/Južna Mitrovica, Podujevë/Podujevo, Rahovec/Orahovac, Skenderaj/Srbica, Zubin Potok/Zubin Potok will benefit from the support.  

Each household will receive vouchers that can be used to acquire agriculture goods such as equipment, fertilizers, seeds and planting material, tools, spare parts to repair damaged machinery, and other essential items.

Participants at the Rahovec/Orahovac event included the Mayor of Rahovec, the Deputy Head of Cooperation in the Swiss Cooperation Office, officials from the Emergency Management Agency and of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development, and FAO. They highlighted the project's significance and the aim of strengthening community resilience.

During his opening remarks, Rahovec's Mayor, Smajl Latifi, expressed gratitude to FAO and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation  for heeding the institutions' call for assistance. He further noted, “While this won't fully compensate for the farmers' losses, it offers them significant support.”Laurent Torche, Deputy Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Cooperation Office, remarked, “We sincerely hope that this contribution will manage to support farming households to restart production and enhance livelihood.” In his closing remarks, FAO Team Leader Naser Krasniqi expressed gratitude to the Emergency Management Agency and the municipalities for their professionalism and collaboration. "At FAO, we mobilized all our resources to implement the project. We tirelessly sought the most effective assistance methods, working in close coordination with EMA and the municipalities."

To facilitate the voucher redemption process, beneficiaries received a comprehensive "voucher user guide" that lists 13 authorized vendors across the affected municipalities. The project's launch has garnered positive feedback from participants, especially on the organization of the assistance process. As the initiative progresses, FAO, in collaboration with local municipalities, will actively oversee the voucher redemption and provide technical advice to the affected households on how to improve their resilience to meteorological and other climate-related hazards with the adoption of good agriculture practices.

The voucher distribution will extend to other beneficiary municipalities in the upcoming days.

 Upcoming voucher distribution schedule:

14.09.2023: Gjakovë/Đakovica, Kline/a and Leposavic/q

15.09.2023: Kline/a and Leposavic/q

18.09.2023: Zubin Potok/Zubinpotok and Skenderaj/Srbica

19.09.2023: Skenderaj/Srbica and Mitrovica South

20.09.2023: Istog/k

21.09.2023: Podujevë/Podujevo