SUDAN* (19 February)
An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission which visited the country late last year estimated a well below average cereal production following late and poorly distributed seasonal rains. Total cereal production in 2002, estimated at 3.8 million tonnes, is about 30 percent below the previous year and 15 percent below average. As a result, the cereal import requirement in the 2002/03 (November/October) marketing year is estimated at nearly 1.3 million tonnes of which about 1.1 million tonnes are anticipated to be imported commercially. Increased export earnings from oil in the last five years and the recent resumption of livestock exports to countries in the Arabian Peninsula, mainly Saudi Arabia, following the lifting of an import ban on account of Rift Valley Fever, have all resulted in favourable outlook for the economy at both macro and micro levels. Furthermore, the on-going peace talks in Machakos (Kenya) to end the long running civil war in Sudan, including the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on 15 October 2002, augur well for resolving the conflict peacefully and this would boost agricultural and other economic activities in southern Sudan.
Most zones in southern Sudan face serious food deficits mainly due to population displacement and poor harvests. In northern Sudan, parts of greater Kordofan and Darfur and Red Sea State also suffer from successive poor harvests. Emergency food aid needs in 2003 are estimated at about 214 000 tonnes. Furthermore, timely assistance is required to support the agricultural sector in the next cropping season that starts in April/May in the South and June/July in the North. A budget revision of an existing Emergency Operation was jointly approved on 10 February 2003 by FAO and WFP for food assistance to more than half a million people affected by war and drought, worth about US$ 30.7 million, for a period of twelve months (April 2002 to March 2003).