LIBERIA* (11 February)
The paddy crop, virtually the only cereal grown in the country, is due for planting beginning in April. With the end of the civil war and the consequent return of many displaced farmers, rice production in 2004 is expected to recover somewhat from last year’s very low level. Aggregate cereal imports in 2004 are estimated at 183 000 tonnes; food aid is estimated at 40 000 tonnes.
It has been estimated that, since October 2003, more than 10 000 Liberian refugees in Sierra Leone have spontaneously returned to their war-torn country. Thousands of others among the 320 000 refugees living in other countries of the sub-region have also started to return home.
With the improvement of the security situation, WFP, which had launched a wide distribution programme, has recently extended its operation to other parts of the country outside the capital of Monrovia. Full-scale distributions were carried out, for the first time since July 2003, in Saclepea town and the surrounding villages. Emergency food was also distributed recently to 72 000 children in schools in Margibi and in the city of Tubmanburg for the first time since early 2002. In February a total of 325 000 IDPs are expected to benefit from WFP food aid assistance.
A two-day international donor conference recently held in New York pledged US$520 million for a World Bank-backed reconstruction programme to rebuild Liberia’s essential infrastructure over the next two years.