OCHA Situation Report No. 1
Tajikistan - Drought
13 June 2001


Situation

1.  The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan has announced that the
country faces its second year of severe drought. Hot and dry weather
prevailed in the country from March through May 2001. According to the
Government, the country has lost a considerable part of its cereal crop,
including wheat, oil seeds, and legumes.  The 2001 cereal crop is not
expected to exceed 50% of the actual production in the year 2000, which is
insufficient to cover domestic consumption demands.  The Government
estimated that the country needs to import additionally up to 500,000 MTs
of wheat, 10,000 MTs of edible oil, 15,000 MTs of milk products, 10,000
MTs of meat products, and 15,000 MTs of sugar in order to attain normal
levels of food supplies for the population. The drought has affected the
livestock sector as well.


National response

2.  The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan is making efforts to plan
adequate response and to mobilise additional resources to mitigate the
consequences of the drought, however, the capacity of the country to
ensure the food security of the population is limited.


International response

3.  An official request for international assistance to counteract the
effects of the renewed drought in the country was sent to the UN
Secretary-General and the Director General of FAO. The Government also
requested the sending of a crop assessment mission.

4.  The UN country team supports the request of the Government. A joint
FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission is to be fielded to the
country towards the end of June, which would serve as a basis for further
action by the UN agencies and the international community at large.

5.  OCHA Geneva is coordinating with the UN Office of the Humanitarian
Coordinator in Tajikistan and UN agencies at HQ in order to ensure a
unified approach in advocating on behalf of the country and planning
assistance programmes.

6.  This Situation Report and further information on ongoing emergencies
are also available on the OCHA Internet Website at:
http://www.reliefweb.int.



Telephone: +41-22-91712 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers (OCHA Disaster Response Branch):
  Ms. Merete Johansson Tel.+41-22-917 16.94
  Ms. Knarik Kamalyan Tel.+41-22-917.16.95

Press contact:
  Ms. M. Moulin-Acedo, direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International Disaster Information
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
                                          web: www.cidi.org
                                     listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@cidi.org