Dry El Nino conditions persist in region

Dry El Nino conditions persist in region

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Bangkok

The El Nino climate phenomenon will continue to bring dry weather to Indonesia, Micronesia and northern and northeastern Australia in early 2003, although with a lesser impact than in 1997-98, according to a report issued Thursday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The report, distributed by the agency's regional office in Bangkok, said major monitoring systems in the region had confirmed "a virtually 100 percent probability of El Nino conditions persisting in early 2003 (with) drier-than-average conditions" expected to persist over most of these areas".

The FAO's February 2003 Food Outlook report said cereal grain production in the Asia region decreased in 2002 because of a sharp reduction in rice paddy crops.

The bulk of the decline was accounted for by the world's two biggest rice producing countries, China and India.

The declines were attributed to erratic monsoon rains in the region.

El Nino, meaning boy in Spanish, is an abnormal warming of waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It changes global winds and rain patterns, and usually happens once every two to seven years, causing storms, droughts, floods and crop failures.

The 1997 El Nino was considered extreme as it caused prolonged droughts in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as floods in Peru and Ecuador.

At least 300,000 hectares of forest in Sumatra and Kalimantan caught fire and this was partly attributed to El Nino. The fires resulted in an environmental disaster that sent smoky haze to neighboring countries, in particular Malaysia.

Crop failures prompted a food crisis in many parts of Indonesia.