Fears about food shortfall to be confirmed

Preliminary estimates, to be confirmed by crop specialists, suggest that bean and sorghum yields in Rwanda could be 20 percent to 30 percent lower than the average in some areas, the United States Agency for International Development’s Famine Early Warning System (FEWS Net), reported on 26 June.

It said a joint team from the Ministry of Agriculture, the World Food Programme and FEWS Net would assess the situation in early July.

Growth of these crops, already damaged by heavy rains, has been hampered further by a dry season that came too early, FEWS reported. It said it had not rained since May 12. "Such partial failure of the beans and sorghum crops would have serious consequences on nutrition and on household incomes in those regions, which are host to about 40 percent of the Rwandan population," it said.

Fortunately, it added, unlike the last food crisis of 2000, there was a nationwide supply of sweet potatoes and cassava. These tubers, it said, should meet the calorie needs for at least the next three months, but this has yet to be verified.

Also unlike in 2000, FEWS Net said, the low- and mid-altitude areas of Umutara, Kibungo and Bugesera were expected to experience food security until the end of the year. In addition, areas under sweet potato and cassava cultivation were also expecting a bumper harvest of sorghum. FEWS Net added that almost two years of abundant and well-distributed rains were expected to impact positively on the production of milk and bananas in Umutara and Kibungo provinces, respectively.