11 million still vulnerable to food insecurity

Despite improved cereal harvests in 2001/02 in most parts of the region, the effects of recent drought and past or continuing conflicts continue to undermine the food security of an estimated 11 million people in eastern Africa, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported on Tuesday. Civil strife was continuing to disrupt food production in parts of Sudan and Somalia (as well as in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone), which meant food assistance for affected populations was still needed, the agency said. The FAO urged donors "to give priority to local purchases and triangular transactions wherever possible for their food aid programmes" in order to support domestic food production. [see http://www.fao.org/giews/english/eaf/eaf0204/httoc.htm] In triangular transactions, a donor typically purchases food with cash from its food aid budget in one developing country which has a surplus for shipment to another. This differs from the conventional practice of purchasing food aid from a developed country or from the international market. In Eritrea, despite a strong recovery in grain production during the main crop season last year, the food situation of large numbers of people affected by drought and the recent war with neighbouring Ethiopia remains precarious, according to the FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System first-quarter report on the food supply situation, cereal import and food aid requirements for sub-Saharan Africa. Overall, nearly 1.3 million people in Eritrea continued to depend on emergency food assistance, while continuing drought conditions in parts of Anseba, Debub, Northern Red Sea and Southern Red Sea zones gave cause for concern, it added. In Ethiopia, a bumper main season grain harvest late last year had significantly improved the food supply outlook for 2002, but an estimated 5.2 million people still faced severe food shortages and needed food aid, it said. Though food supply was generally adequate in Sudan, following a good 2001 main season cereal crop in both southern and northern parts of the country, several zones in southern Sudan - especially in Western and Eastern Equatoria and Bahr el Ghazal - faced severe food shortages, mainly due to population displacement and insecurity, the FAO reported. "In southern Sudan, where insecurity is a major cause of food aid needs, the overall needs are estimated at 52,000 mt," it said. In addition, food needs in the Nuba Mountains area of Southern Kordofan, south-central Sudan, amounted to about 25,000 mt, it added. Parts of Darfur and Kordofan regions in western Sudan had suffered crop failures due to erratic rainfall, and "large numbers of people in these areas are expected to depend on emergency food assistance until the next harvest", the report said. In Somalia, despite the recently harvested better than expected secondary "Deyr" season cereal crop, up to 500,000 people - whose coping mechanisms have been diminished by a poor 2001 main season "Gu" harvest, successive droughts and insecurity - are still threatened by severe food shortages, according to the FAO report. "The continuing ban on livestock imports from eastern Africa by countries along the Arabian Peninsula has sharply reduced foreign exchange earnings and severely curtailed the country's import capacity," it said. Food supply had improved considerably in Kenya following favourable rains in major cereal producing areas. However, in Kenya - as in Ethiopia and Sudan - a sharp drop in market prices following good harvests was having a negative impact on farmers' incomes in key producing areas, it added. The food situation is generally stable in Tanzania and Uganda, though maize prices continue to rise in southern Tanzania due to increased exports - especially to Malawi and Zambia, which are facing serious food shortages - and problems in parts of Katakwi and Moroto districts in Uganda, due to localised drought conditions and/or insecurity. The FAO estimated the aggregate cereal import requirement for the eastern Africa subregion in 2001/02 at 3.9 million mt. With commercial imports anticipated at around 2.9 million mt, the food aid requirement is estimated at 0.96 million mt. Against that, pledges amounted to 0.3 million mt as of late March, with 0.3 million mt already delivered.