- INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
- AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES
- FOOD PROCESSING
World agricultural production (see Table I) increased a little over 2% in 1994, according to preliminary estimates of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The recovery of output in the developed countries, which fell 6% in 1993, was responsible for the bulk of the increase. Production in the less developed countries (LDCs) rose somewhat in excess of the 2% rate of population growth there. Output in the "countries in economic transition" in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union may have fallen 5% after increasing less than 1% in 1993.
The most dramatic problems were those in Rwanda and in surrounding countries sheltering Rwandan refugees. After some 1 million people were reported killed in massacres by Hutu militiamen, 300,000 people fled to Tanzania and more than 1 million fled to Zaire. Both national and international relief organizations initially were overwhelmed by the speed and magnitude of these population movements before sufficient international assistance could arrive.
Famine conditions also existed in the Horn of Africa, and major food assistance was needed in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and The Sudan. Food supplies were critical for many subsistence farmers in Tanzania, and Uganda felt the impact of refugees fleeing Rwanda and The Sudan. Agriculture in Somalia was showing signs of recovery because of improved security conditions in the south that allowed some farmers to return to the land. The civil war intensified in southern Sudan in May 1994. The result was more displacement of people, disruption of agriculture, interference with relief operations, and reports of high rates of malnutrition for children under five. Ethiopia’s food-aid needs remained exceptional because of the economic aftermath of three decades of civil war and an annual increase in population of nearly 3%. Burundi continued to feel the effects of the disruption of agriculture following the ethnic conflicts in October 1993.
Conditions generally improved in West Africa, but five years of civil war in Liberia had destroyed the country’s capacity to import food commercially and increased its reliance on food aid. The breakdown of the 1993 peace agreement brought a resumption of fighting, impeding the commencement of normal agricultural activities and the distribution of food aid.
In southern Africa, Mozambique recorded another excellent grain harvest in 1994; the peace accords signed in 1992 encouraged farmers to return to their lands. Nonetheless, the country still faced the postwar problems of how to feed and resettle some 500,000 refugees and demobilized soldiers. The Angolan food-supply situation remained grave, with starvation and severe malnutrition reported throughout the country because of massive displacement of the country’s population following the resumption of intensive civil war in 1992 and the frequent interruption of food distribution by the fighting.
Swaziland, Yemen, and Kyrgyzstan were added to the FAO’s list of countries requiring either exceptional or emergency food assistance. Food supplies remained difficult in Iraq, where the political dispute connected with the UN embargo continued to limit the country’s ability to finance food imports. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Tajikistan faced exceptional or emergency food needs, while the availability of food supplies in Bosnia and Herzegovina waxed and waned with the military situation there.
In Asia the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated further because of renewed fighting and the needs of returning refugees adding to the displaced persons within the country. The small rice crop of Laos in 1993 placed some 10% of the population in need of emergency assistance. Food supplies were also tight in Cambodia and Mongolia. In Central America crops were seriously damaged by drought, and El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua experienced acute food shortages requiring outside assistance.
(For Shipments Of Food Aid in Cereals, see Table II.) In December the Food Aid Committee of the International Wheat Agreement approved and opened for signing an extension of the current Food Aid Convention (FAC), the international mechanism for guaranteeing minimum availability of food aid, which was due to expire in June 1995. FAC members were reportedly prepared to pledge to supply a minimum of 7,320,000 tons of grain (wheat equivalent) annually, a reduction of approximately 200,000 tons from the expiring agreement. The United States was said to be maintaining its long-standing pledge of a minimum of 4,470,000 tons annually. These minimums had previously applied to a list of poorer LDCs whose incomes fell under a level prescribed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The new convention was believed to add to the list some of the poorer countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
The FAO reported that the equivalent of about 13,340,000 tons of food aid in cereals was provided in 1993-94. The last year in which the LDCs were virtually the sole recipients of food aid was 1988-89. During the three-year period 1986-89, Africa on average was the recipient of 47% of such assistance, Asia 35%, and Latin America 18%. In 1993-94, however, LDCs received 64% of total assistance, while the former Soviet bloc became the top regional recipient, with 36% of total assistance. Among the LDCs, Africa commanded 31% of the total, Asia 21%, and Latin America 12%.
The availability of food aid in 1994-95 was reported down sharply from 1993-94. The final total, however, was likely to be larger because donors increasingly delayed their commitments in order to respond to evolving food emergencies. Budget cutbacks and high prices for wheat brought about by the worldwide reduction in grain stocks led to reduced food-aid commitments by several countries; the estimate for U.S. aid was the lowest since 1988-89.