Zimbabwe food crisis eases, but over million face hunger says UN

Aug 10, 2010, 11:39 GMT

Rome - Food security in Zimbabwe has improved 'significantly,' but some 1.68 million people will still need assistance next year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Tuesday.

The repor is based on a June mission to Zimbabwe by FAO and another Rome-based UN agency, the World Food Programme, to assess the national crop and food security situation in the southern African nation.

Government efforts and a 70 million dollar international aid programme providing farmers with subsidised input, had boosted agricultural production, the report found.

The area planted under maize, Zimbabwe's main staple, increased by 20 per cent in 2010 to the highest level in 30 years and production rose seven per cent over 2009, the mission found.

Compared with the poor 2008 season when less than 500,000 tons of maize was harvested, production more than doubled in 2009 and 2010 to 1.27 and 1.35 million tons respectively.

'The generous international support ... significantly contributed to this year's relatively good harvest results, even if in some areas of the country rainfall distribution was uneven,' said FAO's emergency and rehabilitation operations in Africa chief, Cristina Amaral.

The mission estimated that some 133,000 tons of food assistance would be needed to feed some 1.68 million Zimbabweans in 2010-11.

The report said that general poverty and chronic food insecurity had led to reduced diversity of consumption and had also contributed to an increased prevalence of chronic malnutrition among young children.

Prices remain comparatively high for families with low incomes and little or no access to US dollars or South African rand according to the WFP's Jan Delbaere, co-author of the report.