Delayed rains causes concern

The onset of seasonal rains, important for crop planting, has been delayed by 20-30 days across key agricultural parts of the Great Lakes region, according to the 31 March issue of the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) food security bulletin. Satellite imagery showed lower than average daily rainfall over most of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania, the bulletin reported. In Tanzania, the report said unusual dryness between the end of January and mid-March, compounded by forecasts of poor rainfall to come, had raised concern. "Production in the grain basket region of the southern highlands (Iringa, Mbeya, Rukwa and Ruvuma regions), which produce surplus maize for export to neighouring countries in southern Africa, will be critical," the report warned. Maize constitutes one third of the total food production in Tanzania. The current weather conditions resemble the pattern in 1997-8, when 2.4 million Tanzanians in 33 districts were vulnerable to drought-induced food insecurity, and emergency operations were required. "While it is certainly premature to predict a looming food security crisis, the situation requires close and careful monitoring," the report said. Unusually dry weather also occurred over eastern and southern Rwanda in February and early March. However, the reports said households were coping through casual work and cross-border trade. Good rains received in mid-March eased the food security crisis in these areas, although additional aid programmes were required in chronically vulnerable areas. In Burundi, heightened levels of insecurity in most provinces during February undermined national food security, the report said. A prolonged dry spell delayed the start of the February-July production season. There was also a shortage of seeds and fertilisers in the country. The Food and Agriculture Organisation assisted 260,552 vulnerable households (around 18 per cent of the population) with seeds and farming tools. The World Food Programme provided seed protection rations to 161,257 households, the report said. The GHA regional food security bulletin is a joint initiative of: Famine Early Warning System Network; Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development; Desert Locust Control Organisation; Livestock Early Warning System; United States Geological Survey. It is funded by the United States Agency for International Development and other collaborators.