The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is planning a food relief program targeting 700,000 people in Zimbabwe from October as the effects of a poor harvest and the Ukraine war continue to show, an official has said.
Zimbabwe’s government is working with agencies to provide food aid for 3.8 million people, the WFP said.
The southern African country has been struggling to feed itself since 2000, when former leader Robert Mugabe championed the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless Black people.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Zimbabwe’s government has said it expects its staple maize harvest to fall by almost half this year, to 1.56 million tonnes from last season’s multi-year record of 2.72 million tonnes, due to poor rainfall in the 2021-22 growing season.
The country requires 2.2 million tonnes of maize annually for human and livestock consumption.
WFP said it had budgeted $40 million for the food aid program to cushion millions over the peak of the hunger season from October, when poor households run out of food stocks, to March, when harvesting starts.
“I do not think this is a famine as yet, but that does not mean that it is good. We are preparing for a response that will take off in October up to March. We are working with government on a joint plan for the food deficit mitigation program and that is for 3.8 million people,” WFP country representative Franscesca Erldelmann told Reuters.
She said the number of food insecure people had shot up from 2.9 million to 3.8 million, warning that more households could go hungry as grain stocks dwindle.
Rising food prices, coupled with higher fuel costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have driven Zimbabwe’s inflation from 61 percent in January to 285 percent in August, undermining President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s efforts to revive the country’s economy.
Read more:
‘Stranded’ migrants, including children, rescued in Niger desert: UN
Empty shelves and rising prices test Tunisians’ patience
UK dismisses Putin assertion on Ukraine grain exports to poor countries
Also Read
-
Measles outbreak in Zimbabwe kills at least 150 children
A measles outbreak in Zimbabwe has killed at least 157 children, with more than 2,000 infections reported across the country, the government said on ... World News -
China ban on foreign coal investment leaves Zimbabwe scrambling
Zimbabwe’s plan to refurbish two idled coal-fired power stations has been thrown into disarray by China’s decision to ban investment in plants burning ... World News -
Zimbabwe plans to double budget in 2022 amid rising inflation
Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Monday he would propose a 900 billion Zimbabwe dollar ($9.68 billion) budget for 2022, more than double ... Economy -
WFP warns 22 million face starvation in Horn of Africa
The number of people at risk of starvation in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa has increased to 22 million, the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) said ... World News
