AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - Draught alert for the “granary of Guinea Bissau"

Bissau (Fides Agency) - “A tragic crisis”: were the words the government of Guinea Bissau used to describe the food crisis in the south of the country. The local authorities launched a powerful appeal to the international community in order to face the situation in the region, which, up to now, was considered the “granary” of the country.
On 3 May, the Minister of rural development, Sola Na Klim, said to the bilateral and multilateral partners of Guinea Bissau that more than 140 families of the south of the Country suffer hunger due to a “severe food crisis”. The cause of the devastating fall in agricultural production is connected to the salinity of the soil. The Minister explained that seawater has reached the fertile lands, impoverishing their yield.
This phenomenon has crushed the “granary of Guiea Bissau”, the part of the country where heavy rains fall. The lack of food, a real novelty for the region, now runs the risk of spreading to other regions of the Country. There has been a severe drought going on the north of the country for quite a long time.
The World Food Program (WFP), in collaboration with the local Red Cross, distributed 85 tons of food to 9 thousand refugees, the majority women and children. These people were forced to leave their villages on the border with Senegal, due to the fighting between the army of Guinea Bissau and the rebel faction of the Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC). Even Caritas in mobilised to assist the refugees (see Fides 26 April 2006). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 5/5/2006)