Wednesday, February 16 6:42 PM SGT
33 countries face dire food shortages in 2000: FAO
ROME, Feb 16 (AFP) -
Dire food shortages persist in 33 countries, the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) said Wednesday, warning that global cereal stocks will
have to be dipped into for the first time in four years.
"Food emergencies persist in many countries throughout the world due to
frequent natural hazards and, increasingly, by man-made disasters," said an
FAO report released in Rome.
According to the FAO, 790 million people worldwide do not have enough to
eat, including 200 million children in developing countries.
The organization estimated 1999 world cereal production at 1,872 million
tonnes, which it called above average, and only slightly below the previous
year's level.
But, the group added, it will be lower than expected needs for 1999/2000,
and as a result, "global cereal stocks will have to be drawn down for the
first time in four years."
Among the countries facing shortages, 13 are in Africa, including Ethiopia
where the situation is critical for about eight million people, of which
around 400,000 are refugees from the war with Eritrea.
Another 590,000 people need emergency food aid in Eritrea because of the war
and a regional drought, the United Nations organization said.
Elsewhere, North Korea and several former Soviet republics in Asia face
chronic food shortages, while Cuba and four other Latin America countries
are in similar straits.
In Europe, aid is needed in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, in
Bosnia and in Chechnya, said the FAO.
Beyond natural causes such as flooding or drought, stagnant economies and
civil strife were cited as major reasons for shortages.
The FAO outlook for 2000 is mixed. Winter wheat plantings in the US were
lower, but could rise in Canada this spring, and had expanded in the
European Union and several Eastern European countries.
Southern Africa and South America will probably have strong harvests of
coarse grains such as barley, corn, oats, and rye, but the rice crop in the
equatorial belt and the southern hemisphere will be lower, it said.
In all, it forecast 1999/2000 world trade in cereals at 222 million tonnes,
with an expected six percent increase in global wheat shipments and three
percent for coarse grains.
But rice shipments would fall by four percent, said the FAO.
Export prices for most cereals had risen due to a tighter-than-expected
cereal balance in the United States, the report noted.
Finally, the global meat output grew in 1999 due to low feed prices and
recovering Asian demand, but was expected to to contract this year.