HARARE Zimbabwe has again been classified as one of 22 countries in protracted crisis where a combination of weak institutions, political instability and vulnerability to natural disasters expose a significant proportion of the population to a high risk of chronic hunger and food insecurity.
The UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010 hunger report jointly published with the World Food Programme (WFP) last week listed Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cte d’Ivoire, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Eritrea as among countries requiring special attention because of their precarious humanitarian and political situations.
Other countries in this category are Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan and Uganda.
Faced with so many obstacles, it is little wonder that protracted crises can become a self-perpetuating vicious cycle…They represent ongoing and fundamental threats to both lives and livelihoods, from which recovery may become progressively more difficult over time, said the preface to the report, signed jointly by FAO Director General Jacques Diouf and World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran.
Chronic hunger and food insecurity are the most common characteristics of a protracted crisis, with the report noting that on average, the proportion of people who are undernourished in countries facing these complex problems is almost three times as high as in other developing countries. An estimated 1.7 million Zimbabweans are forecast to face hunger during the current 2010/11 marketing season that ends in March next year.
Of these, a significant 1.3 million people are from the rural areas where last seasons production was affected by shortages of inputs and a mid-season dry spell that destroyed most crops. The food shortage has also been blamed on President Robert Mugabes controversial land reform programme that saw hordes of his Zanu (PF) supporters invading more than 4 000 productive white-owned farms since 2000.
Critics have blamed the lack of proper extension services to the resettled black farmers for the slump in food production during the past 10 years. A study by the Zimbabwe government and the UN earlier this year also revealed that more than one third of children under five years are chronically malnourished and stunted. The National Nutrition Survey, which was conducted in January 2010, revealed a worsening problem of chronic malnutrition, posing long-term survival and development challenges for Zimbabwe.
Post published in: News