Food supply worsening

Press, 15 November 1984, Page 6

Food supply worsening

NZPA-AFP Rome Huge international aid had failed to prevent the food supply in Africa from worsening, a joint Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Food Programme report said yester-

day. The five countries named as suffering from or threatened with severe famine with Ethiopia, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Mozambique. The first two were most in need of increased aid and should have priority, said F.A.O.’s directorgeneral, Dr Edouard Saouma.

Four other countries — Kenya, Morocco, Burundi, and Rwanda — would need to have emergencyaid against drought for the first time this year. The report said that the list of countries facing crises was expected to lengthen in coming months as the results of harvests were assessed. One-quarter of the continent’s population

was now hungry. Swaziland’s food position had improved. It would not need last year’s special aid to be repeated this year. Benin, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, the Central African Republic, and Togo, were expected to revert to normal soon. In southern Africa, which was in its third year of drought, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe would require one million tonnes of food aid in 1984-85. Only 650,000 tonnes had been promised by other countries, the F.A.O. report said, In west Africa there were famine victims in Chad. Harvests were expected to be very low in the whole, region* ’Causing severe food shortages in Bourkinafasso (formerly Upper Volta), Chad, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, the report said. Famine was expected to kill 900,000 Ethiopians and 200,000 Chadians in a short time.