¡¡ ADDIS ABABA, July 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The European Union (EU) urged Monday for change in the way of providing food aid to Africa so asto strengthen recovery and self-reliance of local communities.

    "Improved humanitarian relief practices will go a long way in reducing dependency and will strength recovery and self-reliance of local communities," the EU said in a statement delivered by theambassador of the Netherlands to Ethiopia at the occasion of a seminar on meeting the hunger Mellennium Development Goal (MDG) held in Africa in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.

    According to the EU Presidency statement, food aid can have detrimental effects on local grain markets and on the motivation of farmers in Africa to increase their production, so the way foodaid is provided has to change, not only to better reach those in need but also to reduce negative impacts on local production and markets.

    The EU endorsed the call of African countries asking donors to purchase the food required for aid on the African continent.

    It also challenges both African and donor governments to consider types of humanitarian relief other than food transfers, taking Ethiopia for instance, where promising pilots have been carried out with cash for relief operations.

    "This approach could offer an attractive alternative, especially when wholesale marketing and tendering procedures are inefficient," the EU said.

    The African continent has the highest prevalence of hunger, 26 percent, amounting to about 207 million people in 1999-2001, whileAsia is home to the largest number of hungry people around the globe.

    The one-day seminar, jointly sponsored by the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger and Ethiopia, with the theme "Innovative Approaches to Meeting the Hunger MDG in Africa," focused on practical, innovative solutions to halve the number of hungry and malnourished people in Africa by 2015.

    Halving hunger by 2015 is one of eight MDGs adopted by UN member states in 2000.

    Other MDGs include achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality by two-thirds,and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS between 1990 and 2015. Enditem