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Forty countries face food shortages worldwide, FAO says
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Monday October 9, 2006
Rome- Sudan, with its tormented Darfur region, leads a pack of 40 countries facing food emergencies worldwide, according to a report Monday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to FAO's latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, the crisis in the Darfur region remains the most pressing humanitarian problem.
Declining world cereal production this year risks reducing food supplies available to other countries in need of external assistance.
FAO's latest forecast for world cereal production in 2006 stands at just over 2 million tonnes, almost 8 million tonnes down since the agency's previous report in July and 1.6 per cent less than 2005 levels.
"The main concern is the declining stocks and whether supplies will be adequate to meet demand without world prices surging to even higher levels," the report says.
Despite good crops in many low-income countries, this year's anticipated sharp fall in global stocks may lead to a more precarious situation next season should weather problems prevent an increase in world cereal production in 2007, the FAO said.
Countries facing a food emergency include Somalia, where at least 1.8 million people are suffering because of a severe food crisis.
Food insecurity is also reported in several West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, while emergency food assistance continues to be needed in Chad, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Outside Africa, reduced food aid and crop damage due to floods in July has increased the severity of food insecurity in North Korea.
Unprecedented floods caused by several weeks of torrential rain have also left millions of people in India and Pakistan homeless and in need of food assistance. In China, the worst drought in 50 years has affected more than 3 million hectares of crops.
In Iraq, conflict and insecurity continues to displace hundreds of thousands people, the FAO said.
© 2006 dpa German Press Agency
Forty countries face food shortages worldwide, FAO says
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Monday October 9, 2006
Rome- Sudan, with its tormented Darfur region, leads a pack of 40 countries facing food emergencies worldwide, according to a report Monday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to FAO's latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, the crisis in the Darfur region remains the most pressing humanitarian problem.
Declining world cereal production this year risks reducing food supplies available to other countries in need of external assistance.
FAO's latest forecast for world cereal production in 2006 stands at just over 2 million tonnes, almost 8 million tonnes down since the agency's previous report in July and 1.6 per cent less than 2005 levels.
"The main concern is the declining stocks and whether supplies will be adequate to meet demand without world prices surging to even higher levels," the report says.
Despite good crops in many low-income countries, this year's anticipated sharp fall in global stocks may lead to a more precarious situation next season should weather problems prevent an increase in world cereal production in 2007, the FAO said.
Countries facing a food emergency include Somalia, where at least 1.8 million people are suffering because of a severe food crisis.
Food insecurity is also reported in several West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, while emergency food assistance continues to be needed in Chad, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Outside Africa, reduced food aid and crop damage due to floods in July has increased the severity of food insecurity in North Korea.
Unprecedented floods caused by several weeks of torrential rain have also left millions of people in India and Pakistan homeless and in need of food assistance. In China, the worst drought in 50 years has affected more than 3 million hectares of crops.
In Iraq, conflict and insecurity continues to displace hundreds of thousands people, the FAO said.
© 2006 dpa German Press Agency