European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Air k a a. N the continent s food Gap continues to grow by Charles j. Hanley the associated press sorghum the humblest of grains likes it on the dry lonely High Plains of Southern Somalia. But these Days even the Hardy sorghum is scarce. The Fields of chocolate Brown Earth spreading out for Miles around Hoob Ishmole Are More fallow than in full Leaf this Harvest season. The first Grain crop of the Quot new Quot Somalia looks thin. The Farmers Are too weak too few. The forecast for the somalian people is for months a even years a of dependence on food Aid. Quot we Farmers lost everything Quot said Village chairman Aden Mohamed Abdi. Quot we be got to Start from  the Somalia disaster is Well known. Evil War conspired with drought to starve a people. An estimated 350,000 died in 1992. But Somalia is not alone. An in depth took at world agriculture finds that other Soma Las Are possible a next door in Ethiopia elsewhere in Africa or even beyond this continent in lands now considered  in its latest Early warning bulletin the . Food and agriculture organization lists 20 nations in sub saharan Africa facing food emergencies. In Naif the cases it blames civil strife that disrupted food supplies or drove hungry refugees across Borders. But the roots of Africa s food problem lie deeper than in the latest clan wan and its Impact can be found in the continent s perilous "1 percent  of Rice delivered by an american led Convoy Are slacked in a Village near Bairoa Somalia. A amps Ken George since the 1960s, when it was self sufficient in food Sib saharan Africa s exploding population has grown an average 3 percent a year while its food production has grown Only 2 percent a year. If harvests continue to Trail births at that rate the world Bank says within 30 years Africa s annual Quot food deficit Quot will multiply 15 times to 200 million tons of Grain a equal to All the Corn now grown in North America. Quot Only if its population stabilizes can Africa feed itself. Again Quot concludes Peter l Simkin of the . Development program i Veteran of african agricultural projects. The concerns extend beyond Africa. Crops caught up with population growth in Asia in recent decades thanks to the Quot Green revolution Quot a High yield Rice and wheat varieties Well fertilized Well irrigated. But scientists lately find these yields hitting a ceiling while asian populations Are not. Although the world As a whole produces enough Grain to feed everyone it does t always get to the right places either poor nations simply cannot afford food from surplus countries or food Aid is slow misdirected or stolen. Agronomists economists Farmers in the Field a All agree that third world countries should grow their own food Staples or alternatively develop their economies enough through agriculture to buy american Corn Argentine wheat and new zealand milk. The Challenge is huge nowhere More so than the unbaked plateau  160 mites Northwest of Mogadishu the somalian capital. A peace of sorts has returned with the  military intervention in Somalia but the country s underlying agricultural problems remain Farmers unschooled in modern techniques poor research Lack of fertilizer near impassable roads Lack of irrigation chronic drought the Hoob Ishmole area a pronounced Hoo Bee shoo leh a is Somalia s breadbasket Quot the soil is Good Quot said Iowa Farmer Kevin Tobin an agricultural specialist with Catholic Relief services in nearby Bairoa. Quot it s not Iowa but it s As Good As parts of Missouri Southern Illinois. That tells me the limiting Factor is  insisted Hoob Ishmole Farmer Hussein Aden Quot we have water. It s underground. We need  Tobin doubts the Reservoir is big enough. But even if it is sinking hundreds of Wells in Hoob Ishmole is an expensive dream in an impoverished land. For now the Farmers Are satisfied to have huts to live in. Under a care International resettlement program Hoob Ishmole s 7,600 families Are trickling Back from refugee Camps. They fled in 1991 after government troops routed in the civil War rampaged through the area slaughtering animals stealing crops and tools wrecking mud Walt houses. The Dusty silent Village now a scattering of thatch huts among clumps of Bush gets regular deliveries of sacks of Corn fro care. 1 to recover we need food for two three four months Quot a somber Sheik Yusuf sheikh Ahmed the local islamic. Clergyman said As he cradled his Koran in his Lap. Quot we also need seeds. We need medical help. The people Lack nutrition. Then we would try to  some Farmers Are already trying producing a Small crop of sorghum. But the Cor like Grain which they mix into a porridge has developed a Quot rust Quot disease pointing up still broader problems in somalian agriculture a the shortage of fungicides and other technical support Many specialists say agricultural science should focus More on sorghum and Millet traditional crops of semiarid lands to develop still hardier higher yielding varieties and help countries like Somalia. The somalis immediate needs Are More Basic however a Hoe Machete a and packet of seeds a the Fao emergency kit a and a lasting peace in their country s factional wars. Quot How Many things Are tacking Here Quot Ahmed Mumin Warfa a leading somalian agronomist lamented in Mogadishu. For his relatively uncrowded country he said self sufficiency May be a Long Range goal. For Africa it s a fantasy. Quot there Are too Many people too Many nomads too Many refugees from War from drought african self sufficiency is very very far  ust 30 years ago. Sub saharan Africa was self sufficient in food. Hundreds of thousands Are dying especially when War disrupts already deficient ipod Supply systems. In its latest Early warning bulletin the . Food and agriculture organization says 19 nations in sub saharan Africa besides Somalia face food emergencies. The Fao finds positive developments including the International intervention in Somalia but reports that sub saharan Africa win require extensive emergency assistance throughout 1993 to cover the needs of Large numbers of refugees displaced and drought affected people and demobilized soldiers. Senegal Gambia Guinea Bissau serrale0ne Uberia Ghana a a. Togo. Benn sa0 Tome and prope a equatorial Rufca a a Seychelles countries facing severe food emergencies country reasons for emergency Angola civil strife shortages of inputs High yield seeds fertilizers Botswana drought reduced Harvest Ethiopia logistic constraints reduced harvests in localized areas Kenya below average harvests refugees Lesotho drought reduced Harvest Liberia civil strife shortages of inputs poor Harvest Madagascar reduced Harvest in the South due to unfavourable weather Malawi drought reduced Harvest mozambican refugees Mauritania drought reduced Harvest Mozambique displacement of Rural populations shortages of inputs drought Namibia drought reduced Harvest Rwanda insufficient Rains shortages of inputs Sierra Leone shortage of foreign Exchange civil strife poor Harvest Somalia civil strife and poor harvests Sudan civil strife displaced and drought affected persons Swaziland drought reduced Harvest Tanzania too drought reduced harvests Zaire civil disturbances affecting food distribution Zambia drought reduced Harvest. Zimbabwe drought reduced Harvest Madagascar countries toeing food emergencies projected food Gap rises to 200 million tons. Casebi food production grows at tour percent twice its present rate but population growth stays the same. Cawi where food production grows at four and orm does the project percent and the total Fertility rate of women drops by half Tea food ago stay at manageable Leve p population and projections for sub saharan Africa under nutrition in developing regions in proportion of population with number of people daily calorie Supply per person 1989 33# 160 Milwe a 19# 1 so 13# 59 Sib saharan amp afro United states source . Food and agriculture organization world Bank. V map Jeff Meg new the stars and stripes a 19