Concerns raised as World Food Programme cuts food aid

The United Nations group has been a lifeline for millions of
Zimbabweans who have been dependent on food aid, because of a critical
food shortage that has left the country reeling. The organisation
earlier this year estimated that more than seven million people were in
need of critical aid and ensured that its aid rations accommodated as
many vulnerable people as possible.

However, in the past week the group has announced that the food
situation in Zimbabwe has improved, because of the harvest season. The
group has since started its planned, scheduled reduction in food
handouts, which amounts to more than 80% in food cuts for Zimbabwe. But
Fambai Ngrirande, the spokesman for the National Association of NGOs,
on Tuesday said that there is simply not enough food being grown in
Zimbabwe to cater for the whole country, saying the WFP's decision is a
serious risk. He conceded that there has been a recent harvest and the
return of goods to shops, but with a staggering 94% unemployment rate,
the majority of Zimbabweans simply cannot afford to buy food and have
no money for inputs to grow their own.

The slashing of WFP handouts is just too much, Ngirande said. This
is a move as a result of politics not as a result of a mature reading
of the reality in Zimbabwe right now.

The WFP spokesman for the Southern African region, Richard Lee, moved
to defend the organisation's decision and explained on Tuesday that
over the last several years the WFP has had a pattern in it's food aid
to Zimbabwe – increasing it outside of harvest time and decreasing it
when harvests are due. He explained that this year's action follows
the same pattern, and insisted that no Zimbabweans would be left
helpless.

The World Food Programme is sure that almost everyone will harvest
something this year, Lee explained. We end our large scale operation
this time every year, to reduce the dependency on food aid.

The WFP said last month it was shifting its focus from food assistance
to support for Zimbabwean farmers, with a view to improving household
food security. Lee explained that dependency would be formed if the
group continued feeding those who were harvesting food. He continued
saying that the feeding scheme would still cater for six hundred
thousand chronically' vulnerable people in Zimbabwe, and also argued
that the large-scale aid operation would still be a fallback in the
coming months.

If we see that the harvest is poorer than we first anticipated and
that people need assistance, then we will discuss with our donors and
the authorities to resume the large scale food roll out, Lee explained.

SWRadio Africa