FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 04/01 - GEORGIA* (9 April)
The outlook for the 2001 harvest has improved with good rains in March which helped to replenish soil moisture and irrigation reserves. However, as precipitation during the winter months has again been well below average, rainfall in the coming months will be the determining factor in this year’s harvest. There are indications that the area sown to winter wheat may not have been fallen as sharply as originally reported. However, many plantings were delayed and many farmers used whatever seed they could mobilize. It is hoped to mobilize enough seed to increase the area sown in the spring to potatoes and maize, to offset any potential reduction in wheat output. Dividing the country in two halves lengthwise, satellite imagery indicates that crop development to date is satisfactory in the cropped areas of southern half, and importantly, better in parts of Khakheti, a major wheat producing area.
The aggregate 2000 cereal harvest is less than 400 000 tonnes, nearly half that achieved in 1999 and 40 percent below average due to drought and the poor state of the irrigation system. Output of potatoes, other basic foodcrops and fodder is also down, negatively affecting livestock production.
With a minimum national cereal consumption requirement (including food, feed seed, losses) estimated at 1.1 million tonnes, Georgia’s cereal import requirement in 2000/01 is estimated at 748 000 tonnes (620 000 tonnes of wheat, 88 000 tonnes of maize, 35 000 tonnes of barley and 5 000 tonnes of rice). Registered cereal imports between July and December 2000 have amounted to 104 000 tonnes, but substantial volumes enter informally. Against the estimated food aid requirement of 311 000 tonnes, confirmed pledges to date amount to 85 400 tonnes. Food aid deliveries of wheat are proving difficult to market as cheaper supplies are being sourced in the CIS.
WFP appealed last year for almost 66 000 tonnes to cover the basic needs of 696 000 most vulnerable drought-affected victims until the next main harvest, for a period of eight months (November-June). Response to this appeal has been slow and limited; the first commodity consignments only reached Georgia in January. Distributions started late in February and by the end of March 270 000 beneficiaries received a twomonth ration. Based on the confirmed pledges and quantities received and expected to date, WFP plans to complete the first round of distribution to some 270 000 additional beneficiaries early in April and to start a second one t some 540 000 beneficiaries by mid- April. By the end of March pledges covered only 35 percent of the total amount requested (23 000 tonnes against 66 000 tonnes in the appeal) and only 6 650 tonnes had reached the country.
Back
to menu