SIERRA LEONE* (10 May)
Following increasing plantings by returning refugees and farmers previously displaced, as well as comparatively improved conditions for the distribution of agricultural inputs, cereal production in 2003 has been estimated at about 450 000 tonnes, some 8 percent higher than in 2002. Cereal imports in 2004, mostly rice, are forecast at some 287 000 tonnes, compared to 296 000 tonnes imported last year.
The security situation in the country remains calm. Repatriation activities continue for the Sierra Leonean refugees returning from Guinea. In mid March, the Government estimated that 90 percent of the Sierra Leoneans who left the country during the civil war (1991-2001) have returned home. An estimated 1 million internally displaced people have also been resettled.