FAO/GIEWS: Africa Report No.1, May 2003

FAO/GIEWS: Africa Report No.1 - May 2003 p.24

GAMBIA

The 2002 cereal production figures released by the Government are significantly lower than the estimates of the joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission in October 2002 which indicated an average harvest. Thus, aggregate output of cereals has been revised down to some 139 000 tonnes, 30 percent less than last year and 7 percent below average.

Cereal import requirements for marketing year 2002/03 (November/October) are estimated at some 142 000 tonnes, anticipated to be covered commercially.

CEREAL SUPPLY/DEMAND BALANCE FOR THE 2002/03 MARKETING YEAR (November/October)
	Wheat	Rice	Coarse Grains	Total Cereals
	[	thousand tonnes		]
Previous year production	-	36	163	199
Previous five years average production	-	30	120	150
Previous year imports	39	108	2	149
Previous five years average imports	45	89	2	136
2002/03 Domestic Availability	-	13	135	149
2002 Production (rice in paddy terms)	-	20	118	139
2002 Production (rice in milled terms)	-	13	118	132
Possible stock drawdown	-	-	17	17
2002/03 Utilization	40	113	138	291
Food use	24	100	117	242
Non-food use	1	3	20	24
Exports or re-exports	15	10	-	25
Possible stock build up	-	-	-	-
2002/03 Import Requirement	40	100	2	142
Anticipated commercial imports	40	96	1	137
of which: received or contracted	-	-	-	-
Food aid needs	-	4	1	5
Current Aid Position
Food aid pledges	-	1	1	2
of which: delivered	-	1	1	2
Donor-financed purchases	-	-	-	-
of which: for local use	-	-	-	-
for export	-	-	-	-
Estimated Per Caput Consumption (kg/year)	16	69	80	166
Indexes	[	percentage		]
2002 Prod. compared to average (rice paddy terms):	-	68	99	93
2002/03 Import requirement compared to average:	89	112	123	105
Cereal share of total calorie intake:				55
Additional Information
Major foodcrops:	rice; millet; sorghum
Lean season:	July-September
Population (000s):	1 460
GNP per capita in 2001 (US$):	330

FAO/GIEWS - May 2003