Some 2.5 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation, and five million, a third of the population, are in dire need of food aid.
A report of food and nutrition in Southern Africa, which was
released shortly before the 39th SADC Heads of State Summit last
weekend, estimated that 41.2 million people in 13 SADC member states are
food insecure this year.
The most affected countries are Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eSwatini, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has a food shortage
with an overall decline in food production. Heads of State and
government leaders from the bloc’s 16 member countries have called for a
comprehensive multi-year response plan for the crisis.
The leaders said that a prolonged drought and floods, which hit
Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, have exacerbated the problem. In
addition, poor harvesting and the effects of climate change have been a
major reason for the disaster, they noted.
According to Domingos Gove, the SADC secretariat director for
agriculture, food and natural resource, only Zambia and South Africa
have adequate food supplies in their granaries.
“Our regional states have experienced poor rainfall, the lowest recorded in the past 15 years,” he said.
He added that the SADC Environmental Vulnerability Assessment
Committee was monitoring the situation in the different bloc member
states. “We are working with various national environmental
vulnerability committees. It’s a continuous process.”
A report of food and nutrition in Southern Africa, which was released
shortly before the 39th SADC Heads of State Summit last weekend,
estimated that 41.2 million people in 13 SADC member states are food
insecure this year. The most affected countries are Zimbabwe,
Mozambique, eSwatini, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the World Food Programme, 2.5 million Zimbabweans are
facing starvation, and five million, a third of the population, are in
dire need of food aid. Two of Harare’s four reservoirs are empty due to
drought.
The bloc’s food reserve is 38.5 million tonnes for the year 2019/2020
harvesting season, mostly from South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania. South
Africa had 15.5 million tonnes of cereals, Tanzania had 8.7 million
tonnes and Zambia had 5.2 million tonnes of grain.
The other member countries recorded less than five million tonnes each during the just ended harvest, the report noted.
Maize accounts for 80 per cent of the cereal production in southern
Africa. Other important cereals are wheat, sorghum, millet and rice.
Only seven per cent of cultivated land is irrigated.
Most farmers in southern Africa are smallholders whose farms are less than five hectares.