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Rains herald end of food crisis in Chad but shortages still likely - aid groups

by george-fominyen | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tuesday, 14 September 2010 13:14 GMT

DAKAR (AlertNet) Â? Abundant rains have raised hopes for a bountiful harvest and an end to severe food shortages in Chad but the effects of this yearÂ?s food crisis will linger and lead to deficits again in 2011, aid workers predict.

A drought slashed last yearÂ?s agricultural output in AfricaÂ?s arid Sahel region, which runs south of the Sahara desert. As a result, about two million Chadians have been short of food this year.

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that the country needs around 100,000 metric tonnes of food aid - of which Chad has so far received only 70,000 due to scant donor funds - and further help to tackle child malnutrition.

Â?The worst has been averted and, with the prospect of a good harvest (this year), we think we should be out of an emergency situation soon,Â? Jean-Luc Siblot, the head of WFP in Chad, told AlertNet.

Most Chadian livestock breeders and farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture to grow sufficient fodder and harvests. The annual harvesting season runs from October to early December.

Aid workers warn there will still be a deficit in cereals next year.

Â?Farmers completely depleted their reserve stocks due to the severity of this crisis and they would need more than just one good harvest to replenish these stocks,Â? said Jean Francois Caremel, the head of charity Action Against Hunger in Chad.

Many poor families have borrowed heavily to survive the drought and the subsequent food crisis. A rich cereal harvest will likely lead to lower cereal prices, which means the debtors will need to sell more of their crops to make enough money to repay the debts, Caremel told AlertNet by telephone from NÂ?Djamena.

Â?At the end of the day they would be short of food again, although the harvest could be good,Â? he added.

And for some Chadians there will be no let-up in food shortages after excessive rains in some parts of the country washed away several thousand hectares of farmland .

Â?The harvest will be bad again this year because of floods, but this will be a comparatively smaller part of the country. So far barely 15,000 out of 2 million hectares of farmland in Chad has been destroyed by floods,Â? WFPÂ?s Siblot said.

Child malnutrition will also remain a problem in Chad beyond the current food crisis, aid agencies say, as it is linked not only to food shortages but also to a lack of doctors and nutrition specialists.

Â?The government and donors have to consider improved agricultural policies, better livestock management and schemes to mitigate the advance of the desert and climate change which are structural causes to the food and malnutrition problems Chad is facing,Â? Siblot concluded.

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