Monthly monitoring report for the 2008-2009 crop year

The 2008-2009 agricultural campaign took hold relatively slightly behind in the Sahel, compared to the past campaign when, as early as the first decade of May, sowing operations had started throughout the region. Thanks to this precocity, on the date of the decade3 of May 2007, we had already reached about 75% in terms of sowing and more than 25% in weeding. For the current campaign, the first “threshold rains” were only recorded at the end of the third ten days of the month with an unequal distribution in space, allowing certain localities to be in advance in the operations of. seedlings. Others, on the contrary, are “lagging behind” for lack of sufficient humidity to really start.
This report, which takes stock of the monitoring of the campaign during the month of May, focuses mainly on the following points:

• Rainfall and hydrological situation;
  
• State of crops;
  
• Cultural operations;
  
• Phytosanitary situation;
  
• Food situation;
  
• General appreciation of the campaign