FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 11/01 - SUDAN* (6 November)
A recent FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to southern Sudan indicated a generally improved food supply situation compared to last year but estimated an overall deficit in cereal production. Heavy rains in August caused localized flooding and water-logging in low-lying areas, particularly in the east. However the overall advantages of the rainfall, to date, are noted to outweigh the disadvantages.
Despite the improved food supply situation, pockets of food insecurity remain and food assistance requirements will be greater as the fragmentation of the regions and absence of normal trade routes exclude easy movement of grain or cassava flour from surplus to deficit areas.
In central and northern Sudan, harvesting of the 2001 main season cereal crops has just started. Despite the extensive floods that displaced large numbers of people and destroyed crops, overall harvest prospects have improved with some good rains and increased cereal production in the irrigated schemes. An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission is in the country since mid-November to assess the 2001 main season cereal production and estimate overall commercial imports/exports and food aid requirements in 2002.