Growing conditions have deteriorated for the 1997 first season rainfed maize and sorghum crops, as well as that of the secondary irrigated paddy crop and other minor foodcrops, as a result of insufficient precipitation in July.
Field work has stopped in several areas and price speculation on some basic food items is reported.
Harvesting is about to start and coarse grain outputs should decline from last year but would nevertheless remain about average. This is mainly the result of government's decision to cope with eventual stockpiling and price speculation, similar to that experienced during the dry spell in the first half of the year.