Nearly 1mn Zimbabweans to need food aid until December : FEWSNET
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) A United States-funded famine early warning system
said Sunday that close to a million Zimbabweans will require food aid until
the end of the year and the number could rise by more than 40 percent before
the next harvest in March 2011.
According to the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET), the
food-insecure population in Zimbabwe’s countryside is estimated at 904,463
between October and December, up from about 536,000 during the third quarter
of 2010.
It was estimated that at the peak, 1.3 million people would be food insecure
during the 2010/11 consumption year which ends in March next year.
“The highest prevalence of food insecurity was projected to be in the
provinces of Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Masvingo, and the
northern parts of the country, all of which experienced dry spells in the
second half of the 2009/10 cropping season,” said FEWSNET.
It said the worst affected areas are Binga, Kariba and Hwange districts
which are close to the border with Zambia and the Beitbridge, Chiredzi,
Gwanda and Matobo districts in the south of the country.
The early warning system however noted that food availability was generally
stable this year throughout Zimbabwe compared to the same period in 2009.
Zimbabwe’s Meteorological Services Department has predicted a favourable
2010/11 farming season, with increased chances of normal to above-normal
rainfall across the whole country during the rainfall season that runs from
October to March next year.
JN/daj/APA
2010-10-03