ETHIOPIA* (23 September)
Harvesting of the 2003 main meher cropping season is expected to begin soon. Favourable rains during August benefited lowland and midland areas that are planted in long-cycle crops, facilitating growth at flowering and full maturity stages. The Water Requirement Satisfaction Index (WRSI), a crop-specific performance indicator taking rainfall into account, has also shown normal to above-normal crop performance as of the end of August. The recently harvested belg crop has also registered considerable improvement over last year’s crop, but erratic rains in some areas may have affected yields. Normally, the belg-season crops are harvested from June to August and the crop accounts for some 10 percent of total grain production; in some areas, however, it provides most of the annual grain production.
Over the past several months, serious food shortages and high malnutrition levels have been witnessed in several parts of the country. The total number of people in need of food assistance in 2003 has now been estimated at 13.2 million. The overall donor response to current food crises has been considerable, and it has managed to prevent the situation from worsening disastrously. Emergency food aid appeals were fully resourced with the exception of a requirement of about 37 148 tonnes ofpulses.However, non-food items, which are vital for recovery, were initially underestimated. Based on the results of a recent assessment, the government and UN agencies recently indicated a shortfall of US$40 million out of the total currently revised non-food requirement of US$108 million. Particularly under-funded areas include water and sanitation as well as other sectors. The quality of the seeds supplied by donors were also good.
An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission has been planned to visit the country in November/December to appraise 2003 main-season cereal production and estimate commercial imports/exports and food aid requirements in 2004.