FAO/GIEWS: Africa Report No.2 - August 2002 p.1
This is the second of three issues per year of this report prepared by the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) on the food supply situation and cereal import and food aid requirements for all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The report is designed to provide the latest analysis and information on the food situation in these countries to governments, international organizations and other institutions engaged in humanitarian operations.
Part I focuses on the food crisis in southern Africa, particularly in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as in Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and southern provinces of Mozambique, due to two consecutive years of poor cereal harvests. It highlights the bleak crop prospects in several countries of eastern Africa and western parts of the Sahel due to extended periods of dry weather that have affected crops and livestock and raised serious concerns over the food outlook in 2002/03. The report also draws attention to the precarious food situation in parts of the Great Lakes region, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to civil strife, and the continuing need for food assistance in Angola, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone due to population displacements, refugees and insecurity.
Part II contains an assessment of crop prospects and the food supply situation by sub-region, giving the latest estimates of cereal import and food aid requirements of all four sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa.
Part III presents the latest analysis and information on crop prospects and the food supply situation and outlook in each country. The information on food aid pledges, triangular transactions and local purchases, and on expected arrivals, is based on data transmitted to GIEWS as of late July 2002 by the following donors: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, EC, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States as well as the World Food Programme.