UN pleas for $331M in food aid for Zimbabwe

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has made a plea for $331 million in a bid to rescue Zimbabwe from a debilitating drought in which more than a third of the country's population is in need of food aid.

Calls for aid by the WFP come at a time when the country battles the effects of drought, a cyclone and an economic crisis that has perpetuated poverty in the Southern African nation since the ouster of former President Robert Mugabe in November 2017.

The Zimbabwean government has already declared the drought a national disaster as it pleads for aid from the international community, despite having invested billions of American dollars in Command Agriculture, a government-funded scheme aimed at ensuring food self-sufficiency.

On top of food shortages, Zimbabwe’s appeal also targeted the humanitarian needs of victims of Cyclone Idai which earlier this year left trails of untold destruction through parts of eastern Zimbabwe.

A week ago, Zimbabwe’s Treasury chief Mthuli Ncube said the government had been providing grain to 757,000 homes since the start of this year in rural and urban areas.

David Beasley, head of the WFP, said 2.5 million Zimbabweans were facing starvation.

"We are talking about people who truly are marching towards starvation if we are not here to help them," he said.

Zimbabwe was once the bread basket of South Africa, but over the past two decades agriculture harvests have suffered and power cuts are rampant.

The country is facing hyperinflation with the figures for June at 176% amid a government decision to stop publishing statistics for the next six months.