FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 04/01 - MALI (27 March)
Seasonably dry conditions prevail. Off-season crop production activities are underway. In Ségou area, farmers planted more areas to rice but also to vegetables (onions, tomatoes) and cassava. Tombouctou area, area planted was lower due to delays in completing the coarse grains harvest. A joint FAO/CILSS Crop Assessment Mission estimated the 2000 cereal production at 2 386 300 tonnes. This is 17.5 percent below 1999’s record (2 893 600 tonnes) but is very close to the average of the previous five years. Desert Locusts were reported in March in Timetrine and the southern Adrar des Iforas between Gao and Tabankort.
Following two successive bumper crops in 1998 and 1999, farmers’ stocks had been replenished. They were estimated by the national statistical service at 520 000 tonnes just before 2000 harvest. The national security stock is also at its recommended level of 35 000 tonnes (plus 25 000 tonnes in the form of “financial” security stock). Therefore, the overall food situation is satisfactory. However, some areas may be at risk of food shortages following poor harvests, notably in Mopti, Gao, Kidal, Tombouctou and northern Ségou regions. For its technical rotation, part of the national security stock could be sold by the marketing board in structurally deficit areas. The SAP (national early warning system) classified 400 000 persons as at risk of “food difficulties” in the “cercles” of Douentza, Mopti, Bandiagara and Youvarou in Mopti region; Niafunké and Gourma-Rharous in Tombouctou region; Gao, Ansongo, Bourem and Ménaka in Gao region and Kidal and Abéïbara in Kidal region. It recommended the distribution of 10 790 tonnes of millet and sorghum to these populations for 3 months.
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