Food situation improved in sub-Saharan Africa, FAO says

Sub-Saharan Africa can look forward to a generally improved food supply situation, according to a special UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report released in Johannesburg. A press release on the report received by IRIN today says the improvement reflects “substantial increases in food production in several areas, particularly western Africa where above average to record harvests are anticipated in several Sahelian countries, and in eastern Africa where the year’s output is satisfactory in several countries.” “As a result, the sub-region’s cereal import requirements are anticipated to be lower than last year,” the FAO said. The FAO report, ‘Food supply situation and crop prospects in sub-Saharan Africa’, lists 13 countries in the region facing exceptional food emergencies caused in some cases by civil strife. They are: Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia. Last year at this time 20 countries in sub-Saharan African were listed in this category by FAO. In western Africa, according to the report, “a bumper crop is anticipated in Sahel, with record harvests in the main producing countries of the region.” In coastal countries along the Gulf of Guinea, harvest prospects are said to be generally favourable in Benin, Nigeria and Togo, but less favorable in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Liberia and Sierra Leone remain heavily dependent on international food assistance, despite some improvement in food production. In Liberia, despite improved security and favourable weather conditions, the 1998 cereal output is only expected to be close to last year’s because of a severe seed shortage. FAO forecasts record crops in Chad, Mali and Niger, with above-average output in The Gambia and about average in Burkina Faso and Senegal. The report foresees below average output in Cape Verde and Mauritania.