FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 09/01 - ETHIOPIA* (10 September)
Prospects for the 2001 main '"meher" season cereal crop, to be harvested from late October, are favourable. Abundant rains in July and August benefited developing crops in major producing regions. However, heavy rains and floods in parts have caused loss of life and localized damage to crops.
Latest official reports on the 2001 secondary "belg" season foodcrops, harvested from June, indicate a good crop and a substantial recovery from last year’s poor crop. However, an army-worm outbreak earlier in the season in eastern parts of the country and bird infestations in the south may have caused some localized damage. The "belg" crop accounts for some 7 to 10 percent of the aggregate cereal production of the country, but it is important in several areas, where it provides the bulk of the annual food supplies.
By contrast, in the pastoral areas of southern and eastern Ethiopia, the current main season rainfall was late by about a month and ended early. Poor rainfall in parts of Gode, Liban, Werder and Afder Zones, sites of last year’s severe food shortages, is particularly worrying. Recent nutritional surveys have shown high levels of global acute malnutrition, indicating continuing food shortages.
The overall food supply situation in the country is stable as a result of last year’s bumper "meher" cereal and pulse crop. However, the sharp decline in grain prices in main producing areas has severely affected household income in rural areas. The Government and donors have made some attempts to support local markets through purchases of grain. The number of people in need of food assistance is expected to decline from the earlier estimate of some 6.5 million people affected by a severe drought in the last two years and the war with neighbouring Eritrea.
An Emergency Operation (EMOP) worth about US$90 million was jointly approved by FAO and WFP in March 2001 for relief food assistance to 2.5 million small- scale farmers and drought-affected pastoralists, for a period of 10 months (April 2001 to January 2002). A revised EMOP was also jointly approved in April 2001 for 323 000 internally displaced people due to the war, worth a total of about US$55 million until end of July 2001.