FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 02/01 - ARMENIA* (1 February)
The outlook for the 2001 grain harvest is uncertain. Persistent drought in 2000 reduced grain production by 27 percent to 219 000 tonnes and has resulted in a shortage of seed. As a result early indications are that the area sown to winter grains (mainly wheat) for harvest in 2001 has fallen by a third to 65 000 hectares. Good rains late in 2000 helped to redress moisture shortages but precipition has eased off since then and much more is needed. Satellite imagery clearly shows that crop development in the north,(parts of Shirak, Lori, Tavouch and adjoining areas of Kotaik and Geharkunik, in a belt stretching from Lake Sevan to the border) is markedly less than last year. However, the reduction in the areas sown to winter crops in these areas also contributes to this finding. Crop condition is markedly better than last year only in Siunik marz. The food supply outlook in 2001 will depend crucially on increasing the areas sown to lower yielding spring grains, and the mobilization of seed potato to enable farmers to plant this staple crop. Animal feed and pastures were also affected.
An FAO crop and food supply assessment mission in August estimated the cereal import requirement in 2000/01 (July/June) at 515 000 tonnes including 458 000 tonnes of wheat, and 44 000 tonnnes of feedgrains to provide survival rations for livestock, a major source of protein and income for rural households. The import requirement is well above average and includes 146 000 tonnes of food aid. Against the import requirement, some 200 000 tonnes of cereals had been imported up to the end of 2000, including 68 000 tonnes of food aid.
Debilitating economic, social and political problems over the past decade have resulted in massive unemployment and food insecurity, with some 15 percent of rural children facing chronic malnutrition even under normal circumstances. WFP plans to provide targeted emergency food assistance to an estimated 297 000 subsistence farmers and other vulnerable households with 22 480 tonnes of iron-fortified wheat, vegetable oil and pulses from 1 November 2000 until 1 July 2001. The proposed Emergency Operation (EMOP) will be fully integrated with the ongoing Protracted Relief and Rehabilitation Operation (PRRO), also effective until June 2001, which targets another 170 000 beneficiaries. The combined outstanding tonnage of the planned EMOP and the ongoing PRRO amounts to more than 28 000 tonnes up to mid- 2001.
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