FAO reports rising food production

Food production in Sierra Leone recovered sharply last year as many people displaced by 10 years of civil war returned to their villages and resumed planting their fields, according to a survey of food production by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). But the FAO said that many internally diplaced people and refugees who had fled abroad only returned to their villages after the main planting season had got under way. As a result, more than 135,000 rural families would require food aid in 2003. The organisation said food production in Sierra Leone rose substantially in 2002 for the second year running as life got back to normal after the 1991-2001 civil war. Output of rice, the staple food of Sierra Leone's five million people, recovered to 78 percent of its pre-war level. The FAO said in a statement that the area planted to rice increase by 47%, thanks in part to the distribution of 5,772 tonnes of seed rice to over 144,000 farmers. The survey of food production and the vulnerability of rural populations to food shortages, also reported a strong recovery in other important food crops such as cassava, sweet potato and groundnuts. It concluded that food production this year should return to pre-war levels if support for the farming sector were maintained. The survey, which covered 9,236 households in 2,176 villages, said the most vulnerable areas from the point of view of food security were in the north and east of Sierra Leone, where most resettlement was currently taking place. "Emergency relief distribution for the main rice planting season are required for a total of more than 135,000 farm families in 2003. Targetting for agricultural relief interventions should prioritise the resettled populations," FAO said. It concluded that Sierra Leone managed to produce 50 percent of its cereal requirements last year. The government has set a goal of achieving self sufficiency in food production by 2007.