FAO, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, is calling urgently for 18 million dollars to offer agricultural support to an expected flood of returnees from Sudan.
The UN agency says hundreds of thousands of people may be forced to return from Sudan to South Sudan because of a continuing failure to resolve their citizenship status.Around 120,000 South Sudanese have indicated they are willing to return immediately.
FAO added that few returnees will have land or the means to feed themselves and their families, when they arrive in South Sudan.
The agency added that it needs funds to help these vulnerable people access and begin to grow food immediately.
FAO can provide only 63,000 households with agricultural support this next season, which stretches from April to August, depending on the region.
The UN agency called for 23 million US dollars in 2012 to respond to urgent food needs in South Sudan, but it says it received only 5 million.
FAO is asking for an additional 18 million dollars to cover for the funding it needs to support its activities in South Sudan.