Normal weather conditions were reported in the first half of May, following heavy rains and flooding in late March and April which caused serious damage to some crops and serious disruption to harvesting of the important foreign exchange earner sugar cane crop. The outlook is poor for the sugar crop. The crop has also been affected by technical breakdowns and the continuing shortage of farm inputs, which have resulted in a significant reduction in milling levels and lower than normal yields. Output is likely to be smaller than the historically low 3.3 million tonnes collected in the 1994/95 harvest. The situation has recently improved for fruits and other food crops, as well as for livestock pastures. Production of paddy will nevertheless remain below average because of the continuing lack of agricultural inputs. Rice imports in 1998 marketing year (January/December) is expected to be a relatively high 400 000 tonnes which should help meet domestic demand of this important staple in the population�s diet.