Eritrea: FEWS Eritrea Food Security Update Sep 2004

Poor performance of spring and summer rains could result in a total failure of long-cycle crops and a much below average harvest of short-cycle crops. Although some improvement in harvest prospects was expected if September rains improved, a dry spell dominated the last three weeks of the month, removing the prospect for improvement. According to a Ministry of Health (MoA) nutrition survey, the prevalence of acute malnutrition in the lowland areas of the surveyed zones was found to be very high and had increased significantly since the December 2003 surveys.