This is the first of three annual issues 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 relief operations.
Part I focuses on the extensive damage to agriculture and infrastructure caused by floods in Mozambique and other parts of southern Africa. It also draws attention to the severe food shortages that have emerged in several east African countries, particularly in pastoral areas, due mainly to drought. On the positive side, it points to the record harvests in the Sahelian countries while highlighting the persisting food supply difficulties in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
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, including triangular transactions and local purchases, and on expected arrivals, is based on data transmitted to GIEWS as of late March 2000 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. For other donors, data are based on field reports from various sources (see Table 7).
