FAO appeals for $121m to tackle Syrian food crisis

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called for 121 million U.S. dollars in funding to alleviate food insecurity in Syria on Monday, a day before a major donor meeting for the war-torn country.
The funding is urgently needed to prevent further deterioration of the food security situation and the collapse of regional food chains affected by the Syrian crisis, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at a daily news briefing here.
The appeal came as the Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria is scheduled for Tuesday in Kuwait, in which the United Nations aims to raise 8.4 billion U.S. dollars.
Some 50 percent of livestock have been lost and the cereal harvest has dropped by half since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, he said.
The third pledging conference for Syria will be chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Pledges of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars and 2.4 billion U.S. Dollars were made at the first and the second conferences respectively, both hosted by Kuwait, but not all the pledges were honored, according to the United Nations