|
Back to Index
ZIMBABWE:
Food shortages becoming critical warns parliamentary body
IRIN
News
June 01, 2006
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53651
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's
response to food insecurity is too little and too late, a recent government
fact-finding mission has revealed.
Presenting the results
of an inquiry by the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare parliamentary
portfolio committee into the drought relief distribution programme to
the House of Assembly, committee chairperson and ZANU-PF Member of Parliament,
Mabel Mawere, said distribution delay had left some people on the brink
of starvation.
"Our fact-finding
mission covered the hardest-hit areas of Masvingo and Matabeleland South
[provinces in southern Zimbabwe], but according to my understanding it
is affecting the whole country," Mawere told IRIN.
Warning that maize
distribution was urgently needed, Mawere added: "the food is procured
by the government from national production or from South Africa - the
problem is that it can take four to six months for maize grain to be transported"
to those in need. "Lack of fuel is the real problem."
Zimbabwe is trying
to cope with four years of food shortages caused by erratic rainfall,
the impact of the chaotic fast-track land reform programme on the agricultural
sector and a critical lack of foreign currency to import inputs, such
as fertiliser and fuel.
The official Herald
newspaper quoted the portfolio committee as saying, "Drought relief food
was taking too long to reach the intended beneficiaries" because of the
"erratic supply of grain at the Grain Marketing Board depots [state-run
outlets], compounded by the shortage of fuel to transport the available
maize."
The Herald reported
that "in Chiredzi District [southeastern Zimbabwe], 77,000 households
[are] in need of food aid; maize was scarce", and in "Chivi District [southeastern
Zimbabwe] 31,469 households required food aid", which meant about 1,573mt
of maize had to be delivered every month.
However, Mawere said
the amount of maize received could not cover the needs: Beitbridge District,
for example, had requested 256mt of maize but had only received 100mt.
An aid worker warned
that the food security situation could "become very critical" in Matabeleland
South and Masvingo, which "are traditionally food-insecure areas", because
"we understand food is going to run out in the next four months".
According to the Herald,
"social welfare officials told the committee that due to insufficient
supplies of grain, people engaged in the public works programme were now
just receiving Zim$30,000 [about 30 US cents] without the [usual] 50kg
bag of maize". The committee recommended that the Zim$30,000 be increased
to at least Zim$100,000 [about 98 US cents] and that maize be dispatched
to beneficiaries "as soon as maize was procured".
In Zimbabwe, food
is not only delivered late or is unavailable, it is also unaffordable:
"with inflation at 1,042.9 percent, most food items are beyond ordinary
Zimbabweans' reach," commented John Makumbe, a senior political science
lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.
Mawere said the committee
had submitted its report to the National Taskforce on Food Security, chaired
by Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of National Security. "They are going
to readdress the problem," she said.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
