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January’s maize crop in drought-stricken Cape Verde was the lowest ever recorded in the country’s history.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said today it will provide $500,000 in urgently needed food crop seeds, animal feed and drip irrigation equipment to help thousands of people in the archipelago, StarAfrica reports.

Cape Verde had 65 percent less rain in 2014 than 2013 and an estimated 30,000 people need urgent assistance, according to the report. Many of the most vulnerable households lost all or a large part of their cereal crops in eight of the country’s most affected islands. The emergency intervention aims to assist 8,237 rural households most vulnerable to the impact of drought.

The goal is also to help build resilience and make agriculture less dependent on unpredictable rains.

In December, the largest volcanic eruption in decades destroyed two villages and threatened a forest reserve on Cape Verde’s Fogo Island, AFP reported.

The island’s thriving vineyards were destroyed, according to an AFKInsider report.

Cape Verde is a volcanic archipelago of 10 islands, nine of them inhabited by a population of about 530,000 people. Residents mostly make a living from a thriving tourist trade, fishing, garment making for export, and remittances from the islands’ diaspora, according to AFP.

Cape Verde’s Prime Minister, José Maria Pereira Neves, and FAO’s Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, signed an agreement in Rome for $500,000 in urgent assistance to help people whose livelihoods and food security are at risk following a sharp fall in crop production due to drought, StarAfrica reported.