FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 09/01 - CAMBODIA (4 September)
Torrential rains and heavy flooding during most of August continue to affect the country. The number of casualties so far is officially estimated as 35 and more than 700 000 people, principally along the Mekong River, have been forced to flee their homes. Over 135 000 are in need of food assistance according to official sources. Much of the overflow of the river has been due to rains upstream in Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Emergency assistance is being provided by the government and relief requested from international humanitarian agencies. Significant damage to the agricultural sector, housing and rural infrastructure is reported. A government estimate indicates that damage is well over US $20 million.
The heavy rains followed an extremely dry month of July, during which several provinces in southern and western parts registered precipitation levels much below the July average of the previous 30-40 years. It is officially reported that, in 9 out of the 24 provinces of the country, some 13 216 hectares of paddy and 2 776 hectares of seedlings, for a total of nearly 16 000 hectares, were affected by the severe drought, thus slowing down planting of the country�s main wet rice crop for harvesting in December. (At present, some 12 provinces are still affected by the drought.) The wet season crop accounts for about 80 percent of paddy production. Rice accounts for some 84 percent of annual food crop production and is planted on around 90 percent of cropped area, mainly in the Central Mekong Basin and Delta and the Tonle Sap Plain.
Despite the damage incurred, early production forecasts indicate that paddy output in year 2001 should be about 4.3 million tonnes (2.7 million tonnes in milled rice equivalent), some 274 000 tonnes above last year�s aboveaverage output. Harvesting of this year�s maize crop has only started and output is provisionally forecast also to be above average, at 165 000 tonnes.