After droughts and delayed rains, some 2.3 million people in Eritrea will need more than quarter of a million tons in food aid this year to supplement the inadequate harvest they have produced, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.

Cereal production late last year was forecast to be about 85 tons, less than half of the average of the last 12 years, another 80 tons was to be purchased and 80 tons donated, leaving the need at 262,000 tons, FAO said.

The failure of the March to May ( a period known locally as Azmera) rains, during which farmers prepare the land, plus the unusually short June to September (Kremti) growth rains not only reduced cereal production, but forced pastoralists to move their herds early and would result in shortages of animal feed early this year.

FAO called for short-cycle cereal seed varieties to be provided, in case this year’s weather follows the pattern of the last several years.