The government said Wednesday it will provide emergency food aid worth $300,000 to former opium poppy farmers in Myanmar through the U.N. World Food Program in response to an appeal by the WFP, the WFP and the Foreign Ministry said.
The farmers in the northern part of Myanmar's Shan State need food assistance because they are finding it hard to shift to cultivating substitute crops following a government ban on poppy cultivation.
The WFP said Japan's aid is the second-largest amount after Australia, which has pledged $620,000. The WFP has asked for $3.7 million.
It said many residents in northern Shan depended on poppy cultivation for their livelihood. Food shortages have led to an increase in infectious diseases, it said.
The ministry said Japan's aid will be delivered mainly through the WFP's so-called food-for-work program.