REUTERS reports that the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization believes peace and long term economic stability in war-ravaged Afghanistan depend on rebuilding agriculture. "The shortest path to national stability will be for the rural population to return to their fields and produce the nation's food," the FAO said in a statement.
FAO has a program underway to improve Afghans' access to food as they recover from years of civil conflict. Some 85% of the population depends on agriculture for a living, according to FAO. FAO said that $39 million is needed this year to improve access to food in rural and urban areas by increasing food production and generating income by providing basic inputs such as seeds and fertilizer. The FAO appeal is part of the so-called "U.N. Appeal for the Immediate and Transitional Assistance Program for Afghanistan for 2002," launched at a ministerial conference on Afghanistan in Tokyo.:
