Generally dry conditions prevail in the highlands and valleys, thus affecting the planting of the 1998 first season cereal and potato crops currently underway. Reduced plantings are reported in some parts where sowing has already been completed. Intensive precipitation and flooding, by contrast, in the Amazonian areas were reported in December and in various other parts during January. A state of national emergency was declared in September, when torrential rains and flooding resulted in some casualties and heavy damage to infrastructure in the south-western parts of the country. Contingency measures and a plan of action have been prepared by the Government to assist the agricultural sector, as well as other sectors, to cope with the possible effects of the phenomenon which should reach their peak in the first months of 1998. Adopted measures include the use of more resistant crop varieties, the rehabilitation and improvement of existing silo establishments, the increase in production of substitutes to the important potato crop (mostly grown in the drought affected highlands), and the safe storage of seeds.
Wheat imports in marketing year 1997/98 are provisionally forecast to increase from last year�s receipts of 330 000 tonnes to about 375 000 tonnes.