Aid experts in Bissau, however, said that if the government had better policies, and if the rains came at the right time, the country should be able to feed itself with current levels of international assistance.
“The government has to act quickly before it's too late,” UN World Food Programme (WFP) head of programmes Jean-Martin Bauer told IRIN. “With smart policies the problems of previous years can be avoided,” he said.
During the so-called "lean season" in 2007, from June to August, 43% of people in rural areas did not have adequate food, according to WFP, and some 20% of the population of 1.6 million received food aid. Bauer said it was possible the situation could become worse this year but currently WFP stocks were based on roughly the same level of need as 2007.
Guinea-Bissau has good soils and high rainfall but poor infrastructure to bring goods to market. It also has ineffective agricultural practices that make food security highly dependent on external factors such as world commodity prices and the weather.
Rice, the country's staple, is mostly farmed without irrigation systems so a good harvest is largely a matter of luck, agricultural experts say. The government also faces financial constraints, with an agriculture budget of just 400 million CFA francs (US$917,000). “That's hardly enough for the Ministry of Agriculture to pay its employees and keep functioning,” UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) programme officer Rui Fonseca told IRIN.
But he and others say the government could take action to minimise food shortfalls.
