Crop production “generally better”

Preliminary impressions from a joint assessment team which visited parts of Rwanda during its 2001 B season noted that crop production was generally better than the corresponding season last year when the rains prematurely ended by mid-May and crops failed. An update last week from USAID’s Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) said the rains were “moderate and fairly distributed” in May, which allowed sorghum - the main seasonal crop - to mature, and sweet potatoes, cassava and bananas to further develop. However, the heavy rains of late April and early May caused the maturing beans to rot in the fields, especially the high altitude areas, FEWS noted. The update says that food security has improved markedly in the areas where it had been most worrying over the last 12 months. “In fact, the provinces that had been most affected by last year’s droughts - Kigali Rurale, Kibungo and Umutara provinces - appear to have among the best yields of beans, sorghum, sweet potatoes and cassava this season,” FEWS said. It added that the “unexpected, but welcome” result was due to the location of these provinces in the low and mid-altitude zones where crops were less damaged by the excess rains than in higher altitude provinces. As a result of last year’s recurrent drought, the cultivated area was less than normal in Bugesera region. For the second consecutive month, no new cases of foot-and-mouth disease were reported in Rwanda and the quarantine measures that had been taken in the livestock sector will be eased across the country, which will almost completely restore the traditional livelihood systems in pastoralist areas of northeastern Rwanda. FEWS noted that over the past two weeks the market has responded to the current and expected supply and demand conditions of food staples in Rwanda. “All prices decreased in the 36 markets monitored with the arrival of season B 2001 harvests,” FEWS said.