Millions of rural Zimbabweans are too poor to plant and farm corn, the country’s staple food. Zimbabwe faces an economic crisis where shortages of cash, fuel and electricity cripple people’s access to basic food.“High staple prices in the region are contributing to below-average purchasing power for a significant number of poor households,” Fewsnet said, mainly because prices are trending 5% to 10% above the five-year average in South Africa, the region’s biggest producer and the source of much of the region’s milled corn.Farmers in Zimbabwe traditionally plant corn in November when the rainy season begins.
Our Forums are vibrant and gives everyone a chance to be heard. "This kind of struggle for subsistence affects their physical wellbeing and self-respect. The forecast for the region is for “below average rainfall,” it said.Parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi will also be affected, it added.It’s the second drought in as many years. "I urgently call on the government and the international community to come together to put an end to this spiralling crisis before it morphs into a full-blown social unrest. It creates behaviour and conditions that violate their most fundamental human rights. "A total of 60 percent of Zimbabwe's 14 million population is considered food-insecure and living in a household that is unable to obtain enough food to meet basic needs.By the end of this year, the food security situation is expected to 5.5 million people, 38 percent of the rural population, is currently facing food insecurity.Periodic droughts, poor rains and erratic weather patterns have been blamed on last season's poor agricultural production.The number of food-insecure people is expected to almost double in early 2020 compared with the same period in the prior year. "I witnessed the consequences of the disastrous economic crisis on the streets of Harare, with people spending long hours queuing for fuel, as well in front of banks to get cash, and in shops to obtain cooking gas or water. Zimbabwe is facing its worst hunger crisis in a decade with half of the population – 7.7 million people – food insecure, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. "The report paints a desperately gloomy picture of the humanitarian situation in the country. The peasant community, which produces 70 percent of staple foods (maize, millet and groundnuts), is particularly vulnerable.It has access to less than 5 percent of irrigation facilities, and is struggling to access productive resources due to cash shortages, She added widespread poverty, limited employment opportunities, liquidity challenges, pervasive corruption, economic instability, mismanagement of funds, natural disasters, recurrent droughts, and economic sanctions and conditionalities by the US and the EU all contributed to Zimbabwe's current crisis.
Approximately 5,000 people were living in inhuman conditions without any infrastructure, without jobs, without hope, and help," said "One resident of Chikos, told me that 'I do not think they even know we exist'. The country, once the region’s breadbasket and rich in fertile crops, is currently plagued by widespread drought and flooding. "As economic inequalities are on the rise, the once thriving middle-class of Zimbabwe is severely impacted by the crisis.
Millions of rural Zimbabweans are too poor to plant and farm corn, the country’s staple food. "Finally, let me echo the words of a government official I met in Harare: 'food security is national security'. On your computer, tablet smart phone or on our App its quick, easy and free access all the news you love.NewZimbabwe.com is updated continually with the latest news to help you feed your addiction with stories & photos from Zimbabwe and many more! Zimbabwe is currently facing its worst food shortage in over a decade, leaving almost 8 million people food-insecure. Zimbabwe's food crisis: 'Food security is national security' According to recent data, about 5.5 million people, 38 percent of the rural population, currently faces food insecurity. At best, some schools are able to offer one meal a week per classroom. Most of the public schools in Harare are no longer able to continue their school feeding programmes. Food insecurity and land conflict increase the risks of civil unrest and insecurity,"Â "The international community must scale up its humanitarian assistance and provide for most of the resources needed to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in times of food emergency. "The most vulnerable segments of society, including the elderly, children and women, are forced to rely upon coping mechanisms such as, school dropout, early marriage, and sex trade to obtain food, behavioural patterns that often are accompanied by domestic violence," she said. by Chris Muronzi
“Many areas of the region are likely to face a second consecutive poor rainfall season and harvest,” the organisation warned.That’s particularly bad for Zimbabwe where the “poor macro-economy is negatively affecting planting and germination rates,” it said. According to recent data, about 5.5 million people, 38 percent of the rural population, currently faces food insecurity.The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, who was in the troubled Southern African country from November In her preliminary findings, she said the international community should scale up humanitarian aid to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the country. But the effort has largely failed after the Zimdollar quickly fell prey to black market speculation that sent its value plummeting.The Zimbabwe dollar is currently trading at 1:20 against the US dollar on the black market. A SWATHE of Zimbabwe, running from the southwest to the northeast, faces a “Phase 3” food crisis after a sporadic start to the November to March rainy season, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network said.Phase 3 is just two steps down from full-blown famine, the USAID-funded Fewsnet said in an emailed statement on Friday. Civil servants, doctors, nurses, and teachers are no longer able to feed their families without alternative sources of livelihood," she said.The situation, according to Elver, is so bad in the urban areas that several people are surviving on just one meal. "Many of the people I spoke to in Harare, told me that they could only afford one meal a day," she said.