LDC FOOD AID NEEDS DECLINE IN 1986/87 - USDA
  Total food aid needs in 69 of the
  least developed countries declined in 1986/87, as requirments
  fell in many countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the
  U.S. Agriculture Department said.
      In a summary of its World Agriculture Report, the
  department said grain production in sub-Saharan Africa was a
  record high in 1986, with gains in almost every country.
      However, food needs in Central America rose, worsened by
  drought-reduced crops and civil strife.
      Record wheat production in 1986/87 is pushing global wheat
  consumption for food to a new high, and higher yielding
  varieties have been particularly effective where spring wheat
  is a common crop, it said.
      However, may developing countries in tropical climates,
  such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central
  America, are not well adapted for wheat production, and
  improved varieties are not the answer to rising food needs, the
  department said.
      World per capita consumption of vegetable oil will rise in
  1986/87 for the third straight year.
      Soybean oil constitutes almost 30 pct of vegetable oil
  consumption, while palm oil is the most traded, the department
  said.
  

