FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 06/99 - ETHIOPIA* (5 June)
Prospects for the 1999 Belg crop, now being harvested, are unfavourable, due to below-normal rains. Although Belg production accounts for only 7 percent of total cereal production, it is important in several areas where it provides the bulk of annual food supplies. The 1998 Meher harvest was satisfactory. However, several areas failed to produce enough and are in need of food assistance. With the anticipated reduction in Belg production, the magnitude of food shortages has increased in terms of numbers and areas affected. The worst hit area is the north-western Amhara Region, where some 2 million people face severe food shortages. The Government has recently appealed for 360 000 tonnes of food aid for an estimated 4.6 million vulnerable people, including those affected by the failure of the belg season, as well as 385 000 internally displaced people due to the ongoing conflict with Eritrea.
Despite some beneficial rains in recent months, southern and eastern pastoral areas are yet to recover from consecutive years of drought and the severe shortages of water. The recent lifting of the ban on livestock imports from the Horn by Saudi Arabia is expected to increase incomes in pastoral areas. An Emergency Operation for food assistance to 1.2 million people, worth some US$40.5 million was jointly approved by FAO and WFP on 31 May 1999. Against total food aid requirement of 551 271 tonnes food aid, pledges as of June 1999 amounted to about 360 000 tonnes, of which 195 000 tonnes have been delivered.
Planting of the 1999 Meher (main season) cereal crops is underway. Early prospects are not promising, as inadequate rains in much of Oromiya and southern Amhara Region have delayed land preparation and planting of long-cycle crops. Furthermore, the Government is reported to have treated about 350 000 hectares of army worm infestations, but the impact on crops is not yet known
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