RWANDA (15 September)
Planting of the 2004 first-season foodcrops, to be harvested early next year, has started. Good rains in August and early September have benefited field operations.
Output of the 2003 second-season foodcrops, harvested in July, was estimated to be lower than last year’s average level for the same season. However, production was sharply reduced in some areas, mainly the Bugesera Region in the Kigali Rural Province.
A recent joint local WFP VAM/USAID FEWS NET assessment mission in this drought-affected region found that beans planted in swamps during the dry season of June–July were maturing well in general and that farmers had started harvesting, providing relief for the difficult food situation. Food shortage in the seriously affected district of Gashora had been partly alleviated as a result of WFP food distributions, but malnutrition among children remains high as the number of children attending health centres has increased from May to August.