1.6 billion dollars needed per year to educate rural people: FAO

ROME, June 13, 2006 (AFP) - More than 1.6 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros) is needed every year from donors to cover schooling for the rural poor, the deputy head of the Food and Agriculture Organization said Tuesday. "External assistance is badly needed for more than 94 million rural children who are out of school," FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Muller told and international meeting of donors and officials from the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. "Donors would have to give 1.64 billion dollars each year to meet basic educatio needs for rural people in low-income countries," Muller told the opening day of the three-day meeting. "Living in a rural area in a poor country frequently means facing poverty, hunger and illiteracy," said Muller, who heads the FAO's sustainable development department.

"In rural areas, the proportion of out-of-school children is almost twice as large as that of urban areas. A large number of these children will join the ranks of the next generation of illiterate and poor adults," he said. More than half of the world's population lives in rural areas, and the globe's poorest countries will continue to be predominantly rural for decades to come, according to FAO. Young rural dwellers with a basic education "are more likely to adopt new technologies and become more productive," Muller noted. "They can deal better with change, improve their livelihoods."