FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 10/00 - MALI (15 September)
Growing conditions are generally favourable. Following generally well distributed and regular rains in June and July, precipitation remained abundant in early August. Rains decreased in midAugust, notably in the west, but they were above normal during the last dekad. Torrential rains causing 15 deaths were recorded on 25 August in Abeďbara, north of Kidal. Precipitation remained widespread but decreased in early September. Crops are generally growing satisfactorily despite some water stress reported in the centre-north. Millet and sorghum are in the elongation or heading stages and rainfed rice is tillering/elongating. Irrigated rice is emerging in the Office Mopti and Ségou irrigated areas while it is tillering/elongating in the Office du Niger zone.
Pastures are generally good. Grasshopper attacks were reported in the Sahelian zone and treatments have been undertaken. Low numbers of Desert Locusts may be present and breeding on a small scale in the Adrar des Iforas. A joint FAO/CILSS Crop Assessment Mission is scheduled in October to estimate 2000 cereal production.
Following two successive bumper crops, the overall food situation is satisfactory. Markets are well supplied and cereal prices are much lower than in previous years. The national early warning system (SAP) estimated that only 2 arrondissements out of the 173 it monitors in the centre and the north (namely Baye in the Bankass cercle and Diankabou in the Koro cercle), were moderately at risk of food shortages in 2000 following floods which destroyed rice crops in 1999. The cereal import requirement for the 1999/2000 marketing year is estimated at 100 000 tonnes of wheat and rice.
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