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Southern African humanitarian update
Regional Inter-Agency Standing Committee Bulletin
July 2007

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-76ACWJ?OpenDocument&rc=1&cc=zwe

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Regional overview

The regional food security situation is mixed. More than five million people in drought-stricken Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique are facing severe food shortages, which will peak in the first three months of 2008.

The next main harvest is not expected until April. Meanwhile countries in the region that have experienced more favourable weather, including northern Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Angola, have had relatively good harvests and are reporting overall satisfactory food security conditions, with some pockets of increased vulnerability in the latter three.

The Regional Vulnerability Assessment Committee (rVAC) recently reported a regional cereal deficit of three million metric tonnes (MT) for this season compared to 4.1million MT last season. While regional deficits have in previous years been largely covered by South Africa's surplus maize production, this year, the country's harvest was drastically reduced, despite the great hectorage planted.

According to the Grain South Africa (SAGIS) and the National Crop Estimate Committee (NCEC), South Africa will itself need to import between 1.4 and 1.8 million MT of yellow maize to meet its domestic requirements (mainly for the feed industry), making this the largest maize import since 1997. Countries that cannot meet their own needs will rely on commercial imports from Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, all of which have surpluses due to carryover stocks from last year and/or better harvests this year. However, these national surpluses may not be enough to cover the regional deficit, forcing them to seek commercial exports from further abroad to supplement national food requirements.

Two countries in the region have declared the situation an emergency and appealed for international assistance. In support of the Swaziland government, the international humanitarian community launched a flash appeal on 25 July 2007 to raise US$15.6 million targeting more than 400,000 people. Similarly on 28th July, a US$18.9 million flash appeal was issued for Lesotho to assist more than 550,000 people. So far the Swaziland appeal is only 17 percent funded, while the Lesotho appeal is 63 percent funded. Both figures represent received as well as confirmed pledges.

Fires have also blazed through parts of Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa destroying thousands of hectares of forest plantations and claiming the lives of more than 20 people, destroying homes, crops and killing livestock. On 1 August the Government of Swaziland declared the fires a national emergency and approved US$20 million to respond to both the drought and fire disasters. In South Africa, some 37,000 hectares (ha) and 15,000 ha of grazing land have been destroyed, with total damages estimated at ZAR 10 million (US$1.4 million).

Zimbabwe

According to the May crop and food supply assessment in Zimbabwe, more than 4.1 million people in both rural and urban areas will be in need of food assistance at the height of the lean season in the first quarter of 2008. The overall cereal deficit is above one million MT. According to Fews Net, the country is expected to commercially import maize from Malawi and Zambia. The government has contracted for 400,000 MT of maize from Malawi, of which 114,000 MT had been imported by the end of July, according to Fews Net.

A shortfall of 352,000 MT is expected. In response to the worsening food security situation, the World Food Programme (WFP) issued an appeal of US$118million on 1 August to provide food assistance for up to 3.3 million Zimbabweans over the next eight months, and called on donors to urgently contribute towards the cost of its expanded aid operation. NGOs including the Consortium for the Southern Africa Emergency (C-Safe) will also support food interventions.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that it is delivering an additional 47,400 MT of food assistance to Zimbabwe. This donation will be distributed through WFP and C-SAFE. This new contribution will be enough to feed more than 500,000 people for six months.

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