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Zimbabwe:
Insight into the humanitarian crisis and food politics
Action Contre la Faim (ACF)
May 04, 2006
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ABES-6PGPQA?OpenDocument
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Executive
Summary and Recommendations
In
2002-03, Zimbabwe was the epicentre of the so-called Southern Africa
‘food crisis’ with over six million people declared in need of emergency
food aid. The crisis was triggered by a drought and compounded by
the consequences of the economic decline, notably the poor availability
and high prices of agricultural inputs. The Fast Track land reform
programme started in 2000 also greatly contributed to the crisis,
by reducing food production and compounding economical difficulties.
Despite some
improvements in 2004, economical difficulties, including low food
production, hyperinflation, shortage of basic commodities and rising
unemployment, have continued since 2002, threatening livelihoods
of millions. Fortunately, international assistance, including a
massive food relief intervention, along with the subsidised sales
implemented by the Government, have played a great role in preventing
hunger over these past few years: malnutrition level in Zimbabwe
has remained one of the lowest in Africa, and reported cases are
actually mainly due to diseases and primarily HIV/AIDS.
Indeed, the
words famine and starvation have been often misused to describe
the situation of the country, as emergency responses by the Government
and relief agencies have prevented such a disaster to happen. As
a matter of fact, the decline of social and health services combined
with the HIV/AIDS pandemic constitute far more immediate threats
to lives and livelihoods: the life expectancy of Zimbabweans has
dropped from 61 to 34 years over the past 15 years. This dramatic
27 years drop confirms that, so far, treatment has not been accessible
for most of the affected people: out of 295,000 people in need of
antiretroviral treatment, only about 9,000 receive it today. As
a result, in this country of 12 million people, 170,000 die every
year of the disease 1.
Epicentre of
the Southern Africa food crisis, Zimbabwe is often looked at throughout
a regional lens, and it is true that one can find a lot in common
with other countries in the region, including similar agricultural
patterns and agro-ecological conditionsand a high prevalence of
HIV/AIDS. Yet, Zimbabwe has faced a very unique situation over the
past few years: the land reform and the resulting tense relations
with some western countries have not only influenced the causes
of the crisis but also shaped the way responses have been provided.
The human rights violations and political tensions around the land
reform have often obliterated the fact that a meaningful land redistribution,
accompanied with relevant financial and technical support to resettled
farmers, was essential to eliminate poverty and food insecurity
in a country suffering from a highly skewed land repartition. Such
support, necessary to the adaptation of large scale commercial farms
into smaller units requires significant levels of investment and
management, which have been lacking so far.
Consequently,
the land reform has resulted in a dramatic drop in food production
and export earnings, which have induced food shortages and reduced
Government’s financial capacity to address them through commercial
imports. 40% of the cereals were produced by the large scale commercial
farms and the newly resettled farmers haven’t been able to restore
significantly former production levels. Reduced exports earnings
may have limited the ability of the Government to import food, though
the Grain Marketing Board 2 was still able to import more than 1
million tons of cereals over the past few years, i.e. between 50
and 75% of the total food requirement, the remaining being imported
by relief agencies. Another critical effect of the land reform is
the serious deterioration of the Government’s relationship with
some western countries and consecutive restrictions to foreign aid.
Indeed, whereas targeted sanctions were taken against Zimbabwe and
direct support provided to some opposition movements, some major
donors and financial institutions have restricted their assistance
in different ways after 2000:
- most of
their cooperation and development funding to the country has been
curtailed and the assistance been concentrated on emergency relief,mostly
HIV/AIDS, food aid, water & sanitation and only later on agriculture.
- the resettlement
areas are excluded from the main aid packages whereas they have
a greater agricultural potential due to more favourable agroecological
conditions and the larger size of the land holdings.
- all assistance
is channelled through international organisations, which prevents
any institutional support to Government services.
- in spite
of one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence and death toll in the
world, the health sector, and primarily HIV/AIDS, remains largely
under funded compared to other countries in the region.
In a context
of high political tensions and strong criticism over the way the
land reform has been conducted, food and agriculture have been politically
charged in Zimbabwe: the Government is on the one hand held responsible
for the food shortages and on the other hand accused of not addressing
them properly because of inefficiency, politicisation and discrimination
of the public food distribution system and Government’s obstructions
to foreign aid. This criticism was strongly voiced by an increasing
part of the international community and the opposition movements
during the past electoral year.
Today, relief
agencies find themselves trapped in this political arena:
- the overstated
famine situation described by some of them has been extensively
used to criticise Government’s policy and interventions.
- similarly,
the high estimates of food aid needs determined by relief agencies
have generally overlooked the fact that the extent of these needs
actually depended on Government’s financial resources to import
food and to proceed to subsidised sales.
The vulnerable
people of Zimbabwe are the direct victims of these tensions: the
debates around the humanitarian situation are so politically charged
that it has become increasingly difficult to assess objectively
people’s needs and to design appropriate interventions. The mutual
mistrust between the Government and the international community
limits funding by donors, but also results in increased bureaucratic
and practical restrictions by the government to the work of humanitarian
organisations and in a reduced collaboration between them and Government
services.
In May 2002,
the British Foreign Minister, Clare Short stated that "People
must not be punished because their government is corrupt".
Yet the Director of UNICEF noted in March 2005 that "despite
the world’s fourth highest rate of HIV infection and the greatest
rise in child mortality in any nation, Zimbabweans receive just
a fraction of donor funding compared to other countries in the region"
and appealed to donors "to look beyond politics and to differentiate
between the politics and the people of Zimbabwe". Indeed, HIV/AIDS
and other diseases kill today far more than malnutrition which has
remained in Zimbabwe at one of the lowest levels in Africa. Yet,
most media and NGOs keep focusing on food issues, the bulk of the
assistance remains food aid, and a silent embargo is maintained
on HIV/AIDS and institutional support funding for health services.
It seems essential today for NGOs to depoliticize humanitarian issues
in Zimbabwe. NGOs interventions may aim not only at bringing assistance
to the people but also at improving the working environment in the
country; this should include the promotion of a shared understanding
of the challenges faced by the communities and of the priorities
of the assistance.
In order to
do so, it is paramount to reject and to fight any form of discrimination
in the assistance, whether it comes from the Government or from
donors. It is also essential to produce and disseminate objective
information and analysis on livelihood situations in order to generate
adequate funding and to promote appropriate relief and recovery
interventions that will benefit to the vulnerable people of Zimbabwe.
Recommendations
- To the
international community:
Western
governments shall not impose sanctions to the government that
adversely affect the vulnerable people of the country, already
strongly impacted by the economic crisis and the climate constraints.
They shall rather promote a non-discriminatory approach of the
assistance programmes.
- To the
donors:
Rather
than focusing on a political approach of the issues faced by the
people’s of Zimbabwe, the donors’ strategies shall integrate a
socio-economical analysis and avoid any form of discrimination
in the assistance.
The
community of donors shall promote humanitarian programmes and
recovery activities aiming at improving living conditions, so
as to find sustainable solutions for the vulnerable people of
Zimbabwe.
- To the
NGOs:
Relief
agencies shall strive to get out of the political arena and give
priority to relief, assistance and recovery activities. This can
be achieved through the compliance with the humanitarian principles
such as non-discrimination and impartiality, and through sharing
information and analysis related to livelihoods situations.
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