Villagers Scavenge for Food

Source: Financial Gazette (Harare)

Date: 1 December , 2005

Author: Njabulo Ncube

Zimbabwe, facing a growing number of people in urgent need of food handouts, has stepped up grain imports from South Africa to avert starvation, amid reports of villagers in remote areas scavenging for food while others eat roots.

The country, whose foreign currency coffers are virtually empty, is reportedly depriving other vital sectors such as the fuel industry, by diverting resources to procure grain to stave off starvation in the light of growing concerns about Zimbabwe's food security.

Statistics from the South African Grain Information Services (SAGIS) released this week show that Pretoria's bulk exports were going to Harare in the wake of reports by independent food experts that about four million people -- a third of the population -- were in need of food aid in Zimbabwe.

Of the 27 700 tonnes of white maize which were shipped from South Africa last week, 15 200 tonnes were destined for Zimbabwe, where successive droughts and chaos on the farms brought about by the government's controversial land reforms have drastically cut food production. The country, which harvested between 500 000 and 800 000 tonnes of grain in the past season, is struggling to make up for a deficit of 1.2 million tonnes.

Zimbabwe requires about 150 000 tonnes of the staple maize monthly. Independent food experts estimate that Zimbabwe needs about US$230 million to cover the deficit.

The government has been reluctant to make a public international appeal for food aid like other southern African countries stalked by hunger.

Zambia declared a national emergency last month in the hope of spurring donations for an estimated 1.7 million hungry people while in equally drought-ravaged Malawi, officials say about 5 million face serious food shortages as maize prices skyrocket.

The World Food Programme, a food security arm of the United Nations, says it is still US$102 million short of some US$400 million needed to bail out Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe until the next harvest in April.