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afrol News, 10 April - Warning of a generally unfavourable food outlook in sub-Saharan Africa for 2001, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said, "the number of people facing severe food shortages is now estimated at some 28 million, of whom 18 million or 64 percent are in eastern Africa." Altogether, 16 countries in the region face exceptional food emergencies. That was the stark message of the Organization's Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospect in Sub-Saharan Africa, released at a news conference in Nairobi yesterday. The 16 countries facing exceptional food emergencies are: Angola, Burundi, Congo Kinshasa (DRC), Congo Brazzaville (RoC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. According to the report, "Continued food assistance is necessary in all countries of eastern Africa and the Great Lakes region as well as in Angola, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone." The report also said, "Food production in southern Africa is projected to decline sharply, mainly due to adverse weather, while civil strife continues to disrupt food production in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan." The UN food agency called on the international community to provide substantial financial assistance for agricultural rehabilitation and repair of infrastructure in Mozambique, which suffered severe damage from flooding during the last two years. The report said Liberia, Rwanda, Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone would need sustained assistance to rehabilitate their agricultural sectors following prolonged civil strife. - In Kenya, the severe drought in 1999/2000 seriously undermined the food security of nearly 4.4 million people and resulted in a massive relief operation. Despite some improvement, the food supply situation is still precarious, the report says. Elsewhere in eastern Africa, the report says, the food supply situation is precarious for more than 1.8 million people in Eritrea caught up in the war with neighbouring Ethiopia. The report calls the food outlook in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) "bleak" and says that food assistance is still needed elsewhere in the Great Lakes, including Burundi and Rwanda. The DRC has some 2 million internally displaced people and additional 333,000 refugees, mainly from Angola. The number continues to rise as fighting flares up in both countries, with serious nutritional and health consequences. The sharp decline in maize production in South Africa, officially forecast at nearly 34 percent from last year, will mean a considerable reduction in its exportable surplus. According to the report, neighbouring food-deficit countries may need to source their grain requirements from outside the sub-region. In parts of Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe about 960,000 people have had their lives disrupted by severe floods. Damage to infrastructure and housing as well as crop losses are reported. The damage is particularly serious in Mozambique, along the Zambezi River basin, says the report. In the Sahel, the food supply situation has tightened in parts, following reduced harvests, notably in Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger. Food distributions to the affected populations are underway and the governments have appealed to donors for assistance. Sierra Leone and Liberia remain heavily dependent on international food aid, despite some improvement in food production, while Guinea is faced with rebel attacks in border areas, which are affecting agricultural activities and have caused new population displacements. Overall, sub-Saharan Africa's cereal import requirements are projected to remain high in 2001. The report says this is because of the effects of drought last year in eastern Africa, reduced harvests in parts of the Sahel and an expected sharp drop in production in southern Africa. Sources: Based on FAO
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