OCHA Situation Report No. 3 Georgia - Drought 14 September 2000
General Situation 1. Several countries of the CIS have been affected by a severe drought and Georgia is among the hardest hit. The joint FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission that was fielded from 7 to 18 August found that Georgia faces a severe food crisis due to drought. This food crisis is being exacerbated by on-going serious economic problems. 2. The damage to agriculture in the southern regions amounts to some 60 percent. It shifts toward an overall 75 percent to 80 percent in the central Shida Khartli region and is most catastrophic in the East damaging 95 percent of total production. Six regions (Kakheti, Mtskheta Mtianeti, Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Imereti) have been the most affected. 3. FAO reported that agricultural production in 2000 has catastrophically dropped as a result of the serious drought. The effect of the drought, ranging from a drastic reduction of the production of cereals, wheat in particular, to no harvest at all, is most serious south of the 42nd parallel. UN System Response 4. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) fielded an Agricultural Input Requirement Assessment Mission to Georgia, which, together with a joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission, worked during the period 7 - 18 August 2000. 5. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MoAF), local UN Organizations, TACIS, the EU and the many NGOs active helped the joint WFP / FAO mission in its task in the country. Joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission 6. Taking account likely cereal imports and pledged food aid, Georgia faces an uncovered cereal deficit of 223 000 tonnes (wheat: 112 000 tonnes, rice:1 000 tonnes, maize: 80 000 tonnes, barley: 30 000 tonnes) which will need to be covered by additional food aid. 7. WFP is proposing an "Emergency Operation" for eight months. The Emergency Operation is intended to distribute 66,000 tonnes of relief food to 696 000 beneficiaries living in six regions affected by the drought. The duration of the Emergency Operation is November 2000 to June 2001, ensuring that households have access to food until the next harvest. 8. The additional volume of food aid planned for the drought emergency operations will entail a serious expansion of the logistic network. WFP will also need to hire implementing partners (preferably local and international NGOs) in delivering and monitoring food aid distribution. 9. To ensure that households that have no access to food receive food assistance on time during this year until the next harvest and that they have access to seeds for planting on time, WFP proposes monitoring at 3 levels. WFP will monitor the overall food security conditions, the growing season for early warning purposes and the overall implementation of the relief operations to ensure the most needy are targeted. FAO Mission Findings and Proposals on Agricultural Input Requirements 10. General: The availability of common crop seeds differs enormously. The need for winter wheat is urgent and immediate, while that for sunflower, maize and potatoes is less urgent because they are spring planted. 11. Winter wheat seeds: A total of 30 000 tonnes will be required to cover 100 000 ha. It is estimated that there are approximately 4 100 tonnes of seeds (quality unknown) available in the country, thus the imported seeds requirement will amount to approximately 26 000 tonnes of seeds. 12. Sunflower seeds: The requirement for sunflowers is difficult to establish at present because much of the crop has not been harvested. The current area under planting is some 6 000 ha principally in the east, which undoubtedly is the worst hit area. The drought will seriously deplete yields, already low (average of 500kg/ha in normal conditions) and so in turn seeds reserves. Sunflower seeds quality will be reduced for similar reasons to that of the wheat. The need for sunflower seeds should be assessed again in December 2000 after the harvest. 13. Potatoes: In irrigated areas the yield is expected to be lower than normal in the region of 8 - 12 tonnes per hectare (cf. normal yields of between 10-15 tonnes/ha) due to the excessively high temperatures. The need for potatoes seeds should be assessed again in December after the harvest. 14. Maize: The area planted with maize is estimated at 225 000 ha. The seeds requirement to cover this area is roughly 6 000 tonnes. It is expected that there will be sufficient seeds available from the harvest in West Georgia to cover these requirements. 15. Fertilizer: The use of fertilizer varies between 90 and 100 kg per hectare (urea or ammonium nitrate) on the wheat crop. This is as much as a third of the amount used in Europe but compares favorably with the use in other CIS countries. The unit yield increase per unit of fertilizer applied at these levels is significant and far outweighs the unit cost of the fertilizer. 16. The most urgent requirement is for winter wheat seeds of bread making quality and related agriculture inputs (fertilizer and pesticide). The seeds should be in the country as soon as possible, in any event by the end of October. 17. At the request of the Government and following the recommendations of the FAO Agricultural Input Requirement Assessment Mission, a project proposal for emergency supply of winter wheat seeds and related agriculture inputs to drought-affected farmers has been prepared to address the most urgent needs. 18. The seeds and agricultural inputs will be procured from the region (Ukraine, Russia, Turkey). The project will target mainly small-scale farmers who would benefit from high quality crop inputs. Distribution will be carried out through the farmers' associations, NGOs and government agencies. The total cost of the project is estimated at US$ 15.5 million. 19. For coordination purposes, donors are requested to inform OCHA Geneva, as indicated below, of bilateral relief missions/pledges/contributions and their corresponding values by item. 20. This situation report, together with further information on ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int. Telephone: +41-22-917 12 34 Fax: +41-22-917 00 23 In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10 Desk Officer : Mr. Sergio Piazzi Direct Tel. +41-22-917 2461 Press contact: (in GVA) Mr. Donato Kiniger-Passigli direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53 (in NY) Ms. Phyllis Lee direct Tel. +1-212-963 48 32 distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -