From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SOMALIA: RAINS ARRIVE AND HARVEST LOOKS ENCOURAGING
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 22:17:25 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Africa, southern
Reference: Africa, east
Title: SOMALIA: RAINS ARRIVE AND HARVEST LOOKS ENCOURAGING


nairobi, dec 22 (ips/horace awori) -- relief agencies are
expressing optimism over crop production in the somali famine
zone of the south-east of the country with the arrival of
relatively good rains after years of drought.

synthia osterman of care international, the u.s.
non-governmental organisation, told ips here that rainfall
readings and crop surveys suggest farmers in south-east somalia
can expect a reasonably good crop yield in the coming months.

''plentiful rainfall in november and signs that relatively
large areas of land have been planted bode well for the harvest,''
she said.

the harvest will remain far below what the horn of africa
country produced in the past years of stability. however it
''should be a great improvement over recent seasons'', she
noted.

an adequate crop would help ease the food shortage in the
drought and war-ravaged area and increase the local supply of
seeds available for replanting.

''it's very encouraging to see the green fields. they foster
hope that somalia  will ultimately be able to reduce its dependence
on food aid and slowly rebuild its farming sector'', said john
perry, a care agriculture specialists.

care distributes seeds and hoes to farmers in an effort to
keep them on the land and rejuvenate somali agriculture.

satellite images and field observations indicate that rains,
although late in arriving, were abundant in november. it is
traditionally the second wetest month of the year and is
crucial in determining crop yields.

fied surveys also show large areas were planted with sorghum
in the bay (baidoa) and gedo (berdhere) regions and with maize
in lower shabelle to the south. the crops on the whole are
developing well and the harvest, due to begin in january, should
be fairly good.

''certainly it will be more than in the last few seasons when
fighting and a severe shortage of food caused farmers to desert
their fields,'' perry said.

but rains did not fall evenly over all of south-east somalia
and residents will continue to need food aid. however, a
reasonable harvest would give farmers a much-needed boost.
(more/ips)


somalia: rains (2)

meanwhile, relief agenies are beginning to extend the range
of their emergency food distribution to include remote rural
settlements of the starving, uptil now overlooked.

one such case is the village of bu'aale, in the
south-west of the country. brenda barton, a u.n. world food
programme official told ips tuesday that using its mobile
airdrop team, wfp dropped seven metric tonnes of wheat in the
bu'aale area on dec. 18 for 1,500 people in need of immediate
assistance.

''food aid will bridge a gap in food stocks until farmers
can harvest their crops. a total of 28 tonnes, or a one-month
supply, will be airdropped in the coming days,'' she added.

the wfp team has been travelling to areas south and north
of the nearest major town bardera in the past week to assess
emergency food needs.

they have generally found the area de-populated, people
having already either moved across the border to kenya or to
towns within somalia like bardera which have been receiving
steady supplies of airlifted food.

bu'aale, is remote which makes access by relief agencies
extremely difficult. compounding the problem are the many land
mines which have been planted along the roads.

to reach the area, wfp dropped off one person who travelled
some 20km by foot. the staff member marked an airdrop zone,
organized the local population to receive the food, and directed
a german airforce transport aircraft to the drop-zone using a
satellite global positioning system (gps).

''it is imporantant to supply food into small locations
like bu'aale to stop the drift of people into major feeding
centres like bardera and baidoa which are stretched to capacity,''
said barton. (end/ips/ha/oa/92)
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