By: Dan Krupinsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that Zimbabwe, following a drought and poor harvest, faces its worst food shortage in four years.

According to the agency, they will work with the government and other international aid organizations to provide food assistance to a portion of the nation’s 13 million people from October until March and April of 2014, when the next crop harvest will occur.

An estimated 2.2 million people, which is one fourth of the rural population of Zimbabwe, are expected to need food assistance in the time before the harvest period next year.

“Many districts, particularly in the south, harvested very little and people are already trying to stretch out their dwindling food stocks,” said WFP Country Director Sory Ouane. “WFP is working closely with the Government and partners to respond to the looming food crisis and will start food and cash distributions to the most vulnerable in October.”

Food prices in Zimbabwe are up by as much as 15% in some cases, and as the availability of foods like grain and cererals becomes even more scarce, the already inflated prices will rise even more.

The rising prices create obvious hardships for the citizens, especially in a country where the unemployment rate is as high as 70%, according to some estimates.

Erratic rains and the rising cost of harvesting goods, such as fertilizers, are just a couple of the numerous factors contributing to the crisis.

Critics blame President Robert Megabe’s policies for an economic crisis lasting over a decade and peaking in 2009, perhaps most notably land grabs of white-owned farms by the government for redistribution to blacks with no land. Magabe maintains that he was correcting ownership imbalances created by colonialism, but over the last 15 years, Zimbabwe has turned from a country that was self-sufficient into one desperately in need of help.

According to a report by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, this shortage would constitute the highest level of hunger since early 2009, when more than half of the population required food support.

To combat the problem, WFP and its international aid partners will provide regionally-available cereals as well as imported vegetable oil and pulses. Cash transfers will be used in selected areas to afford people flexibility and help support local markets. The distributions will increase gradually from October until the new harvest period in March of next year.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Zimbabwe: Hunger Looms in Rural Zimbabwe – 3 September 2013

News 24 – Hunger on rise in Zimbabwe – 3 September 2013

Reuters – U.N. agency says 2.2 million Zimbabweans face food shortages – 3 September 2013

UN News Centre – Over 2 million people in Zimbabwe to require food assistance, warns UN agency – 3 September 2013