FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 11/01 - ECUADOR (3 November)
Harvesting of the small 2001 second season coarse grain crop was complete in September and planting of the main 2002 coarse grain crop is underway. Winter rains, some 30 percent lower than normal, affected the development of 2001 second season crops in the Andean provinces of Pichincha, Tungurahua, Azuay and Chimborazo, and yields were about 20 percent lower than the average level obtained last year. In the Ecuadorian Amazon, one of the poorest areas in South America, localized floods caused by intensive rains during June totally destroyed maturing coarse grain crops of some 2200 subsistence farms. The food situation of the affected farms is expected to tighten in the next months because the next crop will not be harvested until April 2002. In August, ashes from the Tungurahua volcano forced the evacuation of approximately 20 000 people from their homes, killed some 6 000 cattle, and damaged about 48 000 hectares of pasture and crop land in the provinces of Tungurahua and Chimborazo. The international community is providing food assistance to the affected population.
Import requirements in marketing year 2001/02 (July/June) are estimated at 450 000 tonnes of wheat and 200 000 tonnes of maize.