Zimbabwe Famine Warning now Classed as Emergency

Zimbabwe Famine Warning now Classed as Emergency

Aug. 2007  - As food security in Zimbabwe 
continues to deteriorate, a famine warning agency has classed the 
situation there as an "emergency," while local millers have warned that 
the country may soon run out of grain. 
In a report on August 9, the Famine Early Warning System Network, FEWS 
NET, a United States agency which monitors hunger worldwide, attributed 
the food crisis to an ongoing economic decline made worse by a poor 
harvest, the government's recent price controls and restrictions on basic 
commodity imports. 
All these factors, the report said, have "caused a significant decrease in 
Zimbabwe's food security, especially in the southwest and in urban 
      areas."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a miller based in Harare said, "We 
collect our maize from the Grain Marketing Board depot at Murewa [a 
district 75 km northeast from the capital Harare] but there hasn't been 
any maize there in the past few weeks. Our stocks are running out very 
quickly." 
He said the situation was the same at Harare's main depot, Aspindale, 
where millers from the rest of the country collect their consignments. 
In a recent report, "The Herald," a government newspaper, revealed that 
the winter wheat harvest this year was half the size of last year's, and 
that only 45,000 hectares instead of the projected 76,000 had been 
harvested. 
In June, FEWS NET warned that Zimbabwe faced a shortfall of one million 
tonnes of maize, sorghum and millet – about 800,000 tonnes of it maize. It 
urged the government and donor community to mobilize for an immediate and 
coordinated response to address the growing levels of food shortages in 
the country. 
"There is a general consensus that Zimbabwe's 2006-2007 cereal production 
has to be complemented by imports of over one million [tonnes] if the 
country is to meet cereal requirements for the 2007/08 consumption year," 
said FEWS NET. 
According to FEWS NET, Zimbabwe's domestic grain production meets only 55 
percent of the country's needs. 
The government's grain monopoly, the Grain Marketing Board, GMB, which was 
established to ensure food security, particularly in relation to staples 
such as maize and wheat, has dismissed reports that the country is running 
out of grain. 
But its frantic efforts to import supplies, particularly maize, suggest 
otherwise. 
Last month, Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo told the press that Zimbabwe 
was importing 200,000 tonnes of maize from Tanzania. 
"We have been importing maize from Zambia and Malawi. Right now, we are 
finalizing the modalities to import maize from Tanzania," he said. 
 
But a proposed deal to import 400,000 tonnes of maize from neighboring 
Malawi was reportedly delayed because of Zimbabwe's inability to pay. 
In an interview this week with "The Herald," the GMB's Acting Chief 
Executive Samuel Muvuti said the maize expected from Malawi was not 
rolling in due to "logistical problems in that country." 
However, Malawi's Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe, quoted in the "Nyasa 
Times," suggested that negotiations had focused on Zimbabwe's readiness to 
pay for the maize. 
"We've reached an agreement and we are sure that they will pay us," he 
said. 
According to FEWS NET, 115,000 tonnes of an expected 400,000 have so far 
been imported. The report also said the UN World Food Programme and 
C-SAFE, a consortium of aid providers, are considering importing around 
352,000 tonnes of maize to make up the shortfall. 
The World Food Programme has announced that it plans to provide assistance 
to up to 3.3 million Zimbabweans facing severe food shortages over the 
next eight months, and called on donors to contribute urgently towards the 
US$118 million cost of its massively expanded aid operation. 
"Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans are already starting to run out of 
food and several million more will be reliant on humanitarian assistance 
by the end of the year," said Amir Abdulla, WFP's regional director for 
Southern Africa.
  
But FEWS NET has now raised doubts about whether the Grain Marketing Board 
has the capacity to distribute the grain even if enough is imported. 
"The GMB's ability to distribute maize is a serious concern, as in the 
past GMB distributions have been erratic and local shortages are common," 
said the latest FEWS NET report. 
There is also concern that the Grain Marketing Board is vulnerable to 
political manipulation by the ruling ZANU-PF party, which has an interest 
in seeing that grain goes to areas seen as loyalist rather than to 
opposition constituencies. 
While the Zimbabwe government blames crop shortages on the droughts that 
have ravaged the country in the past few years, its critics say the 
government's controversial agricultural policies are the cause.
In particular, they point to the controversial land reform program, which 
the government launched in 2000 to confiscate land from white commercial 
farmers and redistribute it to poor and middle-income landless black 
Zimbabweans. Much of the land went to farmers with no experience of 
large-scale farming, and some went to senior regime figures who had no 
interest in turning the farms around. 
Government critics say that like all tropical countries, Zimbabwe is 
naturally prone to drought, but the commercial farmers had mitigated the 
effects by installing modern irrigation systems, which were then 
vandalized and neglected during the chaotic land grab.
The Grain Marketing Board told the Cabinet Taskforce on Pricing on August 
7 that besides the lack of maize, its work had been greatly affected by a 
June government directive to slash prices of goods and services in an 
attempt to counter soaring inflation. 

In response, the Taskforce told the GMB and millers to comply with the 
regulations or face prosecution, and warned that a law would soon be 
enacted to impose mandatory two-year jail terms for traders found guilty 
of over-pricing. 
Although millers agreed to comply with the directive, they said the 
pricing formula is not sustainable and would only make the food situation 
worse. 
By the time they have bought maize from the Grain Marketing Board, 
transported it to their mills, paid their workers, and taken care of other 
overheads including packaging, they say they make a profit of just 2,000 
Zimbabwean dollars, ZWD – roughly 13 US cents – on each 10 kilogram bag. 
"They say we should sell a 10 kg bag of maize meal for 37 ZWD when it 
costs us 35,000 ZWD to produce it," said a miller who spoke on condition 
of anonymity. "It simply won't do." 
David Coltart, opposition member of parliament for the Bulawayo South 
constituency, says he is "alarmed" at the disappearance of mealie meal. 
"I have been trying to source mealie meal for the past two days and have 
gone to a wide variety of supermarkets around town. I have also approached 
wholesalers and it is simply unavailable," he told the Voice of America on 
July 29. 
"I have been to my own constituency every day in the past week, and there 
is no evidence of any international or domestic NGOs distributing food for 
the needy," Coltart said. "We are at a point where people on the margins 
are starving." 

---


More Aging Earth Headlines >> 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - Aging Earth Home

AGING EARTH HOME

---

© 2009; Aging Earth .com
Powered by WorldsLargestNetwork.com