Local production down, yet prices remain stable

Although heavy rains destroyed a significant amount of crops in the central highlands region of Angola, the price of commodities in markets remained stable. With the main maize and bean harvest nearing completion, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) noted in its latest Prices and Market Situation report that the supply of these commodities to the main market centres, excluding Luanda, remained low. "However, contrary to logical price predictions under this type of situation, the prices of maize grain and beans have not [risen] significantly," FEWS NET commented. No explanation for this anomaly - where local production has been badly eroded, yet prices remain relatively stable - has been found, but FEWS NET said that "in the last week of April, three transporters were found carrying a mixture of WFP [World Food Programme] and local maize to Huambo [in the central highlands], indicating some availability of food-aid maize in markets in Caconda and Kaluquembe [in neighbouring Huila province]". FEWS NET explained that while "a large number of farmers in the Planalto [central highlands region] lost a significant part of their maize and beans harvest from the nacas [the low-lying areas which always flood in the rainy season] in November/December 2003, resulting in reduced market supplies in February 2004 ... there was only a slight increase in prices - an increase not directly proportional to the decline in supply". The Network had found that "in April 2003, more than 80 percent of the maize sold in the main market in Caala [in Huambo province] was from WFP food aid". WFP resident coordinator in Angola, Rick Corsino, told IRIN on Wednesday that "as best as we can tell, over the first few months of the year WFP distributed between 2,500 and 3,000 mt of maize in the municipalities of Caala, Caconda and Kaluquembe, so there is quite a bit of WFP maize in that area". He added that "we know that WFP bags are used for a lot of things, over and over again, including domestic production. And the third point is that Caala market is quite small to begin with and, finally, yes we do know that some beneficiaries do trade small amounts of maize rations for other essentials, like soaps and meat, etc." Corsino said WFP had an "assessment team in the field now, leading up to the crop and food supply assessment mission, and we are hoping that that will shed some light" on the situation. The FEWS NET report added that "one of the most interesting findings of the survey was that very little is known about the functioning of food markets" in Angola.