Short-term food security improving, says FEWS

Short-term food security is improving in Rwanda, mainly due to early indications that the harvest of crops from swampy regions would be satisfactory, and that there has been an early start of rainfall for the next growing season (September 2003-January 2004), FEWS NET reported on Wednesday. Meanwhile in Bugesera, FEWS NET reported that the food crisis affecting the region had not worsened in recent weeks. "Encouragingly, the affected population believes that with a combination of favourable rainfall, immediate support with acquiring beans and maize seeds, and sustained food aid until December 2003, it will largely overcome the current crisis by January 2004," FEWS NET said. "In other areas of the country containing pockets of food insecurity, key informants there too have stated their belief that the situation is improving." However, FEWS NET cautioned that even in years of sufficient rainfall in Rwanda, a period of hunger was not unusual by mid-November, especially in chronically food-deficient areas. It, therefore, recommended that food aid programmes be increased in those areas during the period of shortfall. FEWS NET also warned that although the UN World Food Programme (WFP) food pipeline situation had "markedly improved" over the last month, the agency was still 29 percent short of requirements for the continuation of existing programmes until the end of 2004, and called on donors to respond to its 29 August appeal for aid. As a special feature to its periodic report, FEWS NET published the findings of a food economy survey conducted in March 2003 by Save the Children (UK) in southern Ruhengeri, the province with the country's highest population density, with an average of 540 people per km2. The NGO found that both poor roads and inadequate land plot size decreased returns from the sale of agricultural goods, raising the issue of sustainability of agricultural activities, in particular for cash crops. It said that inadequate land surface, decreasing soil quality due to erosion and poor farming practices, and a strong dependency on agriculture demonstrated a need to identify income-generating activities other than farming. Another finding was that no socioeconomic group was earning US $1 per person, per day - the international definition of the poverty line - indicating a high level of poverty and thus vulnerability in the region. FEWS NET, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, is a USAID-funded activity that collaborates with international, national, and regional partners to provide early warning and vulnerability information on emerging or evolving food security issues. For further information, go to www.fews.net.