FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 11/98 - GEORGIA* (24 November)
The total area sown to grain for the 1998 harvest is officially estimated at 380 000 hectares, somewhat more than last year despite dry weather which hampered spring plantings, but 30 percent higher than the average for 1993-1997. Wheat production in 1998, estimated at 240 000 tonnes is also above average, but well below the bumper 1997 outturn of 292 000 tonnes. Growing conditions for maize, mainly produced in the west, have been satisfactory.
Wheat imports for the 1997/98 marketing year (July/June) reached 0.6 million tonnes, of which 164 000 tonnes were food aid. It is expected that imports in 1998/99 will remain at around this level. The country is self sufficient in maize.
The most vulnerable populations are the internally displaced, fleeing from fighting in the Abkhazia area. Repatriation efforts were hampered by renewed fighting in May 1998, which caused 30 000 people to flee their homes. WFP is providing emergency food assistance to some 200 000 internally displaced people.
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