An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission visited Afghanistan from 15 June to 8 July 2003, to review estimates of the 2003 cereal harvest and forecast cereal import requirements for the 2003/04 (July/June) marketing year. The Mission relied heavily on data generated by the Nationwide Crop Output Assessment (NCOA) carried out by Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (MAAH) together with FAO and with the support of the Ministry...

An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission visited Angola from 15 May to 10 June, 2003. The mission’s objective was to assess the 2003 crop production and the cereal import requirements, including food aid, for the 2003/04 marketing year (April-March). The mission was briefed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER), Ministry of Social Assistance and Reintegration (MINARS), and by the FAO and WFP country teams. Field...

An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission visited Mozambique from 27 April–24 May 2003 to estimate food crop production of for the 2002/03 production season, assess the overall food supply situation, forecast cereal import requirements and possible exports in 2003/04 and determine likely food aid needs. The Mission was accompanied by observers from the European Union (EU), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Southern Africa Development...

Zimbabwe was hit by an erratic rainfall pattern during 2002/03 cereal growing season, following on the heels of a severe drought and the collapse of cereal production the previous year. It is against this backdrop that an FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission visited the country from 21 April to 10 May 2003 to estimate the 2002/03 production of the main cereals and pulse crops, forecast the 2003/04 winter...

An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission visited the country from 21 April to 10 May to assess and forecast the 2003 crop harvest and estimate cereal import requirements for the 2003/04 marketing year (May/April), including food aid needs.

Following two consecutive years of poor harvests, the Government of Lesotho requested FAO and WFP for assistance in reviewing the country's food situation and outlook for the 2003/04 marketing year. Consequently, an FAO/ WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission was fielded from 22 April to 1 May, 2003 to estimate the current season cereal production, assess the overall food supply situation and forecast import requirements for 2003/04 marketing year...

Maize is the preferred staple of the vast majority of Malawians, and a lack of maize is generally interpreted as a lack of food. A number of factors, including a reasonably good harvest in 2003, high levels of maize stocks on hand and current low market prices for maize, all point to a better cereal supply position in Malawi during the 2003/04 marketing year than was the case the previous...

The Government of Swaziland, anticipating a third consecutive poor harvest, requested FAO and WFP for assistance in reviewing the country's food situation and outlook for the 2003/04 marketing year. Consequently, an FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission visited the country from 1 to 10 May 2003. The Mission was accompanied by an observer from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Early Warning Unit (REWU).

FAO’s latest forecast for global cereal production in 2003 and the first forecast for utilization in 2003/04 indicate that output will remain below the expected level of utilization and stocks will have to be drawn down again in 2004 for the fourth consecutive year. FAO’s forecast for global cereal output in 2003 has been revised upward to 1 914 million tonnes, some 4 percent up from the previous year’s below-average...