Food crisis looms Zimbabwe Standard Date posted:Mon 16-Aug-2004 Date published:Sun 15-Aug-2004
Back to previous page		Masvingo, Matabeleland South and North have run out of food Three provincial governors have requested for food aid from central government and for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to be allowed to continue distributing food aid in their drought-stricken areas as hunger takes its toll in the country, The Standard has established. The governors, Josiah Hungwe of Masvingo, Angeline Masuku of Matabeleland South and Obert Mpofu of Matabeleland North recently made the pleas because their provinces, which fall under regions four and five, have run out of food. The latest appeal by three governors fly in the face of government, which has insisted that Zimbabwe has enough food to feed its people until the next harvest in 2005. President Robert Mugabe openly told the international donor community to direct the food aid to more needy people elsewhere in Africa. In an interview with The Standard last Friday, Hungwe, who is also resident minister for Masvingo, confirmed that he had made an urgent appeal to central government for food to feed starving people in his province. He said: “I have already written to the central government appealing for food aid because three districts are facing acute food shortages. There is food scarcity, and villagers here are severely threatened with hunger owing to the poor harvest worsened by Care International, who gave poor seed to our subsistence farmers.” Mpofu refused to comment saying: “The Standard again, oh no,”before switching off his mobile phone. Masuku could not be reached for a comment. Parts of Masvingo, Matabeleland North and South regions fall under regions four and five and receive very little rainfall throughout the year. In June, a Zanu PF central committee member Titus Mukhungulushi Chauke told The Standard that claims by President Robert Mugabe and other government officials that Zimbabwe had enough food until the next harvest were “irresponsible and utter rubbish.” Chauke said thousands of people in Chiredzi, Mwenezi and some parts of Zaka were buying food because they failed to realise a bumper harvest. Renson Gasela, the MDC shadow secretary for agriculture, said people have started dying in urban areas because the country has not produced enough maize this year. He said Zimbabwe will need to import more grain in order to meet domestic maize requirements and avert a humanitarian crisis. His remarks followed a tour of some parts of the country last week. A former general manager of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) himself, Gasela said Mhangura silos has 5 000 tonnes of maize compared to 50 000 tonnes it can take. Kadoma only has 7 000 tonnes compared to 40 000 tonnes it can take. In areas such as Mhangura, Vuti and Lion’s Den,the GMB is offering its trucks to go and collect maize from villagers, he said. A fortnight ago Winston Dzawo, the acting chief executive officer of the GMB, said 119 000 tonnes of maize had been delivered to the parastatal. According to last year’s consumption patterns, Zimbabweans were consuming 5 000 tonnes a day, which gives a monthly total of 150 000 tonnes or an annual figure of at least 1.8 million tonnes. The harvest season starts in April and runs until October, with July being the peak period for deliveries. But if the season is late, the peak period straddles July and August. The government says it expects a crop of 2.4 million tonnes of maize and that domestic consumption will run to 1.2 million tonnes. But Gasela says this means by now more than half of the total maize production would have been delivered to the GMB. “Remember, no one can sell maize to anyone except the GMB. Now if we say that in August we take in another 120 000 tonnes, September 120 000 tonnes and October a further 120 000 tonnes, that will be 480 000 tonnes. There is no way we are going to reach the government’s figure and that is why people are dying in Bulawayo”. The Standard last week reported that 152 people, mostly children, have died of hunger in Bulawayo this year, with 29 of these deaths recorded in July. Twenty-one of the 29 deaths in July were children. The Bulawayo City Council keeps records of the deaths. The records include information on the ages and the addresses of the hunger victims. The report drew the usual shrills of criticism and emotional outbursts from Jonathan Moyo, who declared: “Zimbabwe does not face any food shortages.” Gasela said: “Moyo’s reaction is not surprising. This is typical of Zanu PF. They want to cover up everything so that issues that are failures are not reported.” Bulawayo executive mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube last week confirmed The Standard report was accurate. “Those statistics are true and we have been compiling them painstakingly.” But in a move that suggests the government concedes the country will not have enough grain, Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) reports that the South African Grain Information Service’s weekly import/export charts indicate that between 2,000 and 6,000 tonnes of maize was being exported to Zimbabwe every week from April until the first week of July. A total of almost 40,000 tonnes had been delivered.