ISLAMABAD - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN is providing support to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of North Waziristan and also helping them in catering needs of livestock they had brought with them.
According to FAO around 70 per cent of the IDPs have brought livestock with them and in most of the cases, IDPs with livestock walked for days on foot, as they could not afford transport cost for their animals.
These animals, at present, are very weak and need immediate assistance in terms of feed, shelter and health care to prevent spread of diseases and control mortality rate.
On the request of Ministry of Food Security and Research, FAO has initiated efforts to mobilize resources to address priority needs of the livestock. In this regard, FAO has already provided 100,000 PPR vaccines to the Livestock Department from its existing resources.
FAO Representative in Pakistan, Patrick T. Evans, has recently visited district Bannu to look into the livestock issues and their priority needs.
The FAO team visited one of the eight mobile veterinary clinics set up by the district Livestock Department in Kotti Sadat village located at a distance of 15 km from main Bannu city.
They met with about 50 IDPs who had brought their livestock for vaccination. The IDPs identified shelter, feed and water as their main priority areas for livestock assistance.
The FAO team also held meetings with the district Livestock Department and Commissioner Bannu Syed Mohsin Shah. The district Livestock Department shared that they have sufficient stock of vaccines however; they need support in animals feed and shelters and FMD vaccines.