This is the second issue in 1996 of a series of reports prepared by the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) on the food supply situation, cereal import and food aid requirements for all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The report is designed to provide the latest analysis and information on the food situation in these countries to governments, international organizations and other institutions engaged in relief operations.
Part I focuses on the unfavourable food supply outlook for Liberia, where fresh civil disturbances in the capital threaten to undermine the fragile peace accord and further disrupt food production and distribution activities. It draws attention to the continued relief assistance needs of over 2 million refugees and internally displaced persons in the Great Lakes region throughout 1996. The report underlines the food assistance requirements of large numbers of vulnerable people in the Horn of Africa, affected by present and past civil strife and/or localized crop failures. Details of crop outlook in southern Africa, where a substantial recovery in output (following last year's drought-affected harvests) is in prospect, also feature in Part I. Attention is also drawn to the localized food supply difficulties in some Sahelian countries of western Africa. The report also contains a special feature on the "Crucial Role of Irrigation Development in Increasing Food Production in sub-Saharan Africa". It provides FAO's latest estimates of the cereal import and food aid requirements, as well as pledges and deliveries in 1995/96 of all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. For the countries which have entered their new marketing year, estimates of cereal import and food aid needs are provided for 1996/97.
Part II contains an assessment of crop prospects and the food supply situation by sub-region, giving the latest estimates of cereal imports and food aid requirements of all four sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Part III presents the latest analysis and information on crop prospects and the food supply situation and outlook in each country. The information on food aid pledges, including triangular transactions and local purchases, and on expected arrivals, is based on data transmitted to the GIEWS as of late April 1996 by the following donors: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, EC, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States as well as the World Food Programme. For other donors, data are based on field reports from various sources (see Tables 7 and 8).
Since conditions can change rapidly, and published information may not always represent the most up-to-date basis for action, further enquiries or corrections should be directed to Mr. Abdur Rashid, Chief, Global Information and Early Warning Service (ESCG), FAO, Rome (Telex: 610181 FAO I, Fax: 03965225-4495, Email INTERNET: [email protected]).