ERITREA* (1 June)
Planting of the 2005 cereal and pulse crops is about to start. Recent rains have helped land preparation and water replenishment in several areas of the country. The performance of the “bahri” rains (October-February), important for crops and pasture in the otherwise arid areas of the Northern Red Sea Zone and the escarpments, was generally unsatisfactory.
Widespread food shortages are reported in several areas of the country following consecutive years of drought and below average crop production. Cereal production in 2004 was estimated by an FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission at about 85 000 tonnes, less than half the average of the previous 12 years. An estimated 2.3 million people, about two-thirds of the whole population - including in urban and peri-urban areas - require humanitarian assistance. However, the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC) has indicated that only 1.2 million people could be assisted so far due to shortages in available food aid stocks.
A revised Emergency Operation (EMOP) was jointly approved on 5 April 2005 by FAO and WFP for food assistance for a total of 840 000 people affected by crop failure for a period of five months (1 April 2005 to 31 August 2005). Overall, of the US$157 million requested by Eritrea in the consolidated appeal (CAP) only 19.9 percent has been resourced by May. Further pledges are urgently needed ahead of the hungry season that has just started.