WFP expresses concern over Eritrean food situation

ASMARA, Sept 25 (AFP) — The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Saturday expressed concern over the food situation in Eritrea after the country’s long rainy season ended early in September.

“We are concerned about the rainfall and its consequences on food security,” WPF Country Director for Eritrea Jean-Pierre Cebron told AFP in an interview on Saturday.

Cebron said that this year “the long rains were late, badly spread out and sometimes destructive, leading to loss of seeds and abandonment of cereal crops. There is no hope of an improvement in food security in 2004, but on the contrary, it is far more likely that it will diminish.”

Stressing that “food security means having access to food,” Cebron said: “Currently, we are in a very bad situation, as only 25 percent of cereals and legumes needs are covered. The last two years were not good, and this year is not looking very good either.”

“There is a substantial cereal deficit in 2004, as in 2003, yet cereals represent man’s basic food,” he said.

In Eritrea, there exists “10 to 20 percent chronic malnutrition cases, and the fact that this is a lasting problem is worrying,” Cebron insisted.

He said that the small Horn of Africa country “suffers from drought, low productivity, and the consequences of the 1998-2000 war against Ethiopia, with its refugees and internally displaced persons.”

Between the summer of 2005 and the summer of 2007, WFP is expected to cover the needs of about one million Eritreans.

Eritrea is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 155th in 2003 out of 175 in the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index.