SAHEL: Rains since late June offset early June shortfall

Rising concerns over reduced precipitation in early or mid-June, particularly in Burkina Faso and Niger have eased with abundant rains over most producing areas of the Sahel since late June, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Rains have started in western Gambia, northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central and northern Mali, eastern Niger and Chad's Sahelian zone, where plantings have started, the FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System (FAO/GIEWS) said in its second Sahel report for 1999. Further south, above-normal rains benefited recently planted crops and compensated for the below-average rains of early to mid-June, according to the report, issued last week. In Guinea Bissau, they helped desalinate fields where swamp rice seedlings, now in seedbeds, will be transplanted. Cape Verde's first rains for the season were registered in early July. Satellite imagery indicates that during the first 10 days of July, precipitation remained normal to above normal throughout the Sahel except in the south of Chad. The dry spell of early to mid-June in Burkina Faso and Niger delayed plantings and necessitated replantings in some areas. This might reduce production if rains do not continue late in the season, FAO/GIEWS said. [The full report is available on GIEWS Web site ]