The Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) said following a meeting to assess harvests that production would be up on an average of 34 percent in member countries over last year.

The only fall, of 64 percent, was registered in the Cape Verde archipelago, CILSS said.

However rice production was predicted to show a fall of 1,484,000 tonnes and wheat would be down 818,000 tonnes.

All countries would show an overall surplus or break even this year except for Mauritania, which would have a deficit of 64,600 tonnes, CILSS said.

The report was good news for countries in the region, notably Niger, which suffered serious food shortages earlier this year after drought and locust plagues devastated the 2004 harvest.

The CILSS groups Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.