We have detected that the browser you are using is no longer supported. As a result, some content may not display correctly.
We suggest that you upgrade to the latest version of any of the following browsers:
close notification
Zimb
abwe's main opposition party warned yesterday that the country
could run out of food - including vital food aid supplied by donors
- by the end of January next year.
Food shortages that threaten around half the country's 11,6-million
people will reach chronic levels because the country faces a
shortfall of close to one million tonnes of maize, Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) shadow agriculture minister Renson Gasela
told reporters.
"We need to produce a minimum of 1.8 million metric tons of maize a
year," Gasela told a press conference.
He said Agriculture Minister Joseph Made recently told parliament
that only 929,619 tons of maize had been produced this year.
Zimbabwe has been suffering from critical food shortages for two
years.
It is estimated that 5,5-million people will be in need of
emergency food aid by early next year.
Aid agencies, including the United Nations, say the government's
policy of seizing white-owned farms for redistribution to new black
farmers has disrupted agricultural production and increased
hunger.
But the government of President Robert Mugabe blames the food
shortages entirely on drought.
Yesterday Gasela said Zimbabwe's food security situation remained
grim.
"We will be short by a million metric tons," Gasela said.
He said food shortages were likely to be compounded because the
government had appealed for too little from donors, who in turn had
received just 346 000 t, less than half the amount appealed
for.
"By the end of January there will be no maize in the country either
from GMB (the state-run Grain Marketing Board) or from the donors,"
he said. – Sapa-AFP.
Map
