http://www.english.hadhramaut.info EC provides € 17 mln to support Food Security in Yemen [The Source: www.sabanews.net - 04/01/2010] The European Commission has approved a support programme to Yemen in the amount of € 17 million. The program aims to help improve Food Security coordination among national institutions and strengthening the farming communities to act in the fields of water use, market access and income-generating opportunities.In a press release, the EC said that the programme had approved constitutes the 2009 Annual Action Programme for Yemen under the Development Cooperation Instrument of the EC, came within the framework of development cooperation with Yemen."In November, the Commission had already granted € 10 million to the country within the € 227 million worldwide programme for 2009 on Food Security", said the EC."The Commission attributed to Yemen a grant of € 21.3 million as part of the Food Facility initiative, a one-off funding of € 1 billion directed at helping the least-developed countries in the world tackle the high food prices in international markets".The programme just approved completes the exceptional support of € 48.3 million provided by the European Commission to the food security sector in Yemen in 2009, in view of the worrying situation of the Yemeni population in this regard. Yemen has 40% of its rural population living under the poverty line, and more than 50% of children under five suffer from malnutrition.The programme will finance a large number of activities at the local level, aimed at helping the local farmer's communities and associations improve productivity, water sharing and water management skills, access to agricultural markets and organizational skills.It will also support the creation and operation of a National Food Security Body, which will coordinate and lead the Government's actions in the sector and try to inverse the worsening trend of latest years in terms of food availability, access to food and the nutritional status of the Yemeni people.