Efforts to protect the 2005 cashew crop from being severely affected by the locust invasion will continue.

The country is still coping with a locust invasion that started in December 2004, which has affected crops, including the important cashew cash crop.

The economic situation in Guinea Bissau improved slightly in 2004 with an increase in the country's GDP growth rate to 4.3 per cent, thanks, in particular, to a successful cashew harvest.

However, the uncertainty over the timing of the disbursement of 2005 budgetary support and low revenue projections until the next cashew harvesting season in April May 2006 make the build up of further salary arrears, which are already rising, a worrying possibility.

The connection between Nigerian cashew farmers and Devi Shetty s pediatric cardiac surgery is that they both represent decentralized private activity, undertaken through the market, unlike the operations of the China National Petroleum Corporation, Sinopec, and others in Darfur and elsewhere. They all add value, but decentralized market based activity appears likelier to engender additional goodwill.