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Zimbabwe: Food insecurity
International Federation of the Red Cross
August 25, 2008

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/FBUO-7HWBZ2/$File/full_report.pdf

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Summary

According to the United Nations, up to 5.1 million people - almost half of Zimbabwe's entire population - may be without access to food by the end of 2008.

This preliminary emergency appeal, launched at the request of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS), is therefore intended to provide vital support in responding to the immediate humanitarian needs of 260,100 particularly vulnerable people. However, despite the undeniable urgency of this operation, and the necessity for a quick donor response to enable rapid procurement of food and seeds, this preliminary emergency appeal is only three per cent covered. The only two pledges received so far are from the British Red Cross (CHF 600,000) and the Japanese Red Cross (CHF 200,000).

Nevertheless, work is already underway by the ZRCS and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to recruit necessary staff, to source materials in anticipation of donor support and to establish partnerships with other agencies.

This update, issued to sensititse donors and partners of the operational progress and developments, is therefore also a recall to action. The first distributions of food are scheduled for September 2008.

Therefore immediate significant support for this appeal is needed at the end of August to allow the provision of meaningful humanitarian assistance to the target population.

The situation

The 2008 food security situation in Zimbabwe will likely be the worst ever on record. By December, it is expected that approximately 5.1 million people will not have access to food.

This dire situation can only be addressed through the joint efforts of all relevant actors, putting resources and effort together in providing immediate humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable population.

An exceptional accumulation of negative factors have created this unprecedented humanitarian situation. Unpredictable weather patterns, drastic socio-economic decline and a deepening humanitarian crisis have left millions of Zimbabweans without access to sufficient food, while the HIV and AIDS pandemic continues to ravage the country. The country's predominantly subsistence agriculture economy is particularly prone to the changing weather patterns induced by climate change. Zimbabwe is also struggling with the world's highest inflation rate (over two million per cent as of end July 2008). Most rural communities are dependent on agricultural production and this financial strain significantly affects food security and livelihoods.

According to the 18 June 2008 Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) joint crop and food supply assessment (CFSAM), the total number of food insecure persons in rural and urban areas will be 2.04 million people for the period between July and September 2008, rising to 3.8 million people between October and December 2008 and peaking to 5.1 million people between January and March 2009. This is approximately 45 per cent of the total population. The capacity of the government to import food is constrained by soaring food prices, and unavailability of foreign currency in the country. The expected harvest may only reach 40 per cent of the needs for 2008/2009.

This calamitous situation comes on the back of a difficult year; the 2007 rainy season was characterized by inconsistent rainfall, a pattern that lead alternatively to droughts and floods across the country. According to the Zimbabwe Meteorological Department, by January 2008, 95 percent of the country had received 150 percent of average rainfall. These inundations in many areas of the country led to flooding, leaching, erosion, limited farming activities and late planting. This in turn affected national crop production.

There is continued contraction of economic activity in all sectors, infrastructural degradation (particularly in the agricultural sector including capital asset depletion -irrigation structures and equipment) and the loss of productivity and the higher social and medical care burden caused by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Although economic decline and food insecurity impacts across all sections of Zimbabwean society, the sharpest impact will be felt by the most vulnerable communities, including those households affected by HIV and AIDS.

The government suspension of food security field operations is still in place. This suspension excludes the Red Cross Red Crescent - because of the ZRCS' status as independent auxiliary to public authorities and as such does not come under NGO rules and regulations - and the United Nations. However the IFRC is monitoring developments.

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