FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 09/98 - ALBANIA (3 September)
Latest official reports indicate that about 400 000 tonnes of wheat were produced in the country this year. FAO estimates that food consumption of wheat has been in the range of 650 000 to 700 000 tonnes over the past few years, which is concurrent with recent official indications for 650 000 tonnes to meet food requirements in 1997/98. Assuming that some of the domestic crop will be retained for seed use, some of the poorer quality grain will be used for feeding livestock, and some wastage will occur, as is normal, is estimated that at least some 300 000 tonnes of wheat will be needed in 1998/99 to maintain food consumption levels equivalent to recent years. The USDA Commodity Credit Corp has recently announced that it bought a total of 25 000 tonnes of United States red winter wheat for donation to Albania in two parcels under the Food for Progress Programme. One parcel was due for shipment in July and the other for September.
Albania continues to be inundated with refugees from the recent conflict in Kosovo Province of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). As of late August some 7 000 refugees were officially registered in Tropoje district in northern Albania, while several thousand more are estimated to have travelled to other areas of the country. The security situation in the Tropoje district remains very tense. Food distribution is coordinated by all major humanitarian agencies and covers refugees in all major towns in northern Albania, including Tropoje, Bajrain, Curri, Shkodra, Dunnes and Tiranos.
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