Japan Pledges To Provide Emergeny Food Aid To Burmese Farmers - 2004-04-29

Japan says it will provide emergency food aid worth 300,000 dollars to former opium poppy farmers in Burma.

Tokyo says the aid will be provided through the U.N. World Food Program, which requested the help in an emergency appeal.

World Food Program officials say farmers in the northern part of Burma's Shan state need assistance as they are having difficulty switching to new crops. Burma's military government recently banned the cultivation of opium poppies.