STAFF WRITER
The World Food Programme (WFP) has said Zimbabwe is in urgent need of US$130 million to sustain through August as an emergency operation to prevent millions of the country’s most vulnerable people plunging deeper into hunger.
This comes as Zimbabwe’s already severe climate- and recession-induced hunger crisis deepens on the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed tens of thousands of lives across the globe.
A recent nationwide assessment – the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – shows that the number of acutely food insecure Zimbabweans has risen to 4.3 million, from 3.8 million at the end of last year.
“With most Zimbabweans already struggling to put food on the table, the COVID pandemic risks even wider and deeper desperation.
“We must all do our utmost to prevent this tragedy turning into a catastrophe,” ” WFP’s Country Director Eddie Rowe said.
WFP assistance in recent months has helped ease hunger in six of nine districts classified late last year as suffering “emergency” food insecurity (IPC 4), allowing them to be downgraded to the less severe “crisis” level (IPC 3).
However, 56 of the country’s 60 districts are now categorised as experiencing “crisis” hunger.
WFP supports communities afflicted by “crisis” and “emergency” food insecurity. WFP is planning to assist 4.1 million people in April, although insufficient funding has prevented it achieving the same monthly target since the turn of the year.
In March, it reached 3.7 million of the most vulnerable Zimbabweans.
The total number of food insecure people stands at 7.7 million, more than half the population.
The US$130 million being urgently sought by WFP is part of a total food assistance requirement of US$472 million through December.
Cereal production in 2019 was half that of 2018, and less than half the national requirement. Experts predict that the upcoming 2020 harvest will be even poorer.
Most of Zimbabwe’s food is produced by subsistence farmers dependent on a single, increasingly unreliable rainy season.
With unprecedented hyperinflation having pushed the prices of staples beyond the means of most Zimbabweans, increasingly desperate families are eating less, selling off precious belongings and going into debt.
