Zimbabweans needing food aid may triple this year, minister says

The number of Zimbabweans who will need emergency food aid this year may have doubled or trebled from last year, Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said in an interview on 31st January in the capital, Harare. The southern African nation is facing its worst drought in almost two decades, withering crops and killing cattle as water sources run dry. In 2015 the government said about 1,5 million people needed emergency food, out of an estimated population of 12 million.
Zimbabwe traditionally conducts food-availability assessments before the country’s rainy season begins in October and at the end of the season in April, gauging both the amount of food planted and the amount harvested. In drought years, a mid-season crop assessment is conducted to forewarn government and millers of impending shortages.
Mupfumira said the Zimbabwean government has told the Rome- based World Food Programme, a branch of the United Nations, that the country faces serious food shortages this year. Another food survey will be conducted between April and June, after the crop has been harvested. Food surveys concentrate on the availability of corn, the staple food. Zimbabwe consumes about 1,8 million metric tonnes of the grain a year.
The drought has also affected South Africa and Zambia, the region’s biggest corn producers respectively. (Zimbabwe Independent/ Harare)