FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 06/99 - SUDAN* (5 June)
Planting of 1999 main season cereal crops has started. Early prospects are favourable due to heavy rains during April and May. Pasture conditions are reported to be satisfactory in most regions, especially in the Upper Nile which was flooded last year.
The output of the recently harvested 1998/1999 wheat crop is provisionally estimated at 165 000 tonnes, about 70 percent below both last year’s crop and the average for the last five years. A reduction of nearly 42 percent in the area planted due to high input costs and low prices of imported wheat and wheat flour, coupled with late sowing and high temperatures are the main reasons for the drop.
Food shortages are reported in a number of locations in southern parts of the country. Intensified civil conflict earlier in the year, particularly in Bahr El Ghazal, and a recent influx of returnees, which coincided with the lean period for local residents, has aggravated an already precarious food situation. WFP reduced distributions for three months from June due to insufficient donor funding.
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