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WFP Emergency Report No. 10 of 2006
World Food Programme (WFP)
March 10, 2006

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/HMYT-6MRQEH?OpenDocument&rc=1&cc=zwe

Zimbabwe
(a) During February, WFP provided 37,000 tons of food to over 3.3 million beneficiaries in 37 districts throughout the country, under Vulnerable Group Feeding programme. Despite transportation delays, fuel shortages, and pipeline constraints during the month, the distribution represented 93 percent of planned distribution figures. School Feeding, support for orphans, and people with AIDS also continued to targeted an estimated 608,000 people.

(b) According to WFP's Vulnerability and Mapping Unit (VAM), in February, 49 percent of community respondents indicated that "food aid" was their primary source of food, while 14 percent of community respondents indicated "wild foods" as their primary source. In Gokwe South District, communities were reportedly using "grass seed" as the closest substitute for staple maize. The grass is cut and dried to extract the seed which is then ground into powder and cooked into porridge.

(c) Over the reporting period, the prices of maize meal have continued to vary greatly from district to district. In Chegutu District (Mashonaland West Province), 10 kilos of maize meal averages ZWD180,000, while in other parts of Mashonaland West Province, the same commodity costs ZWD475,000. The shortage of maize meal continues in the Bulawayo, where long queues are witnessed at several retail outlets which expect deliveries. WFP field monitors report that private sellers of maize meal in high density suburbs are selling a 10kg bag of maize meal for ZWD900,000. The current UN exchange rate is ZWD109,125 to USD1.

(d) In Harare, WFP and Cooperating Partner, as well as government officials held a stakeholder meeting in order to plan for the resumption of WFP's School Feeding programme in the city. On 20 January, following reports of cholera in Harare, City Health Department officials suspended school feeding activities at 27 schools until further notice. City health officials have since requested that WFP provide new pots, cooking shelters, and payment for cooks/cooking parents before the resumption of the programme. VOP trustees further remanded

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