Ten countries in east and central Africa will receive $80 million from various donors to improve agricultural production over the next five years, a regional research association said on Monday.

'Food security is an issue here in the region. We want technologies that can tap into our resources including the arid and semi-arid areas,' said Ephraim Mukisira, vice chair of Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (Asareca).

Despite tremendous potential for agricultural production, the region is one of the poorest in the world and is often the subject of international food aid appeals.

The United Nations is appealing for $460 million to feed some 10 million Ethiopians affected by drought and high food prices.

The group is made up of scientists, farmers' organisations and other agricultural workers from the member states that include Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan.

Mukisira said they would focus on improving drought resistant crops, combat diseases and the impact of climate change.

'There could not be a better time to launch this plan,' said Wilson Songa, the agriculture secretary at Kenya's ministry of agriculture, noting high food prices were hurting the region's population.

Songa said the government was pushing through a proposal to create an agricultural development fund worth the equivalent of four per cent of the country's annual Growth Domestic Product.-Reuters