Zimbabwe food shortages scare

Some 3.8m Zimbabweans need food aid

Zimbabwe has imported less than a third of the grain it will need to meet its requirements up to the end of March, a United States-based monitoring agency says.

In its latest monthly report, the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS) says grain from last year's harvest is running out for most rural households, and food is selling at prices that are rising beyond the reach of most people.

FEWS said that high inflation and a shortage of cash were making it difficult for people to get food in urban areas.

President Robert Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's economic crisis on years of drought and a plot by western countries to bring down his government because of his land reform programme.

His critics say the seizure of most white-owned farm land has decimated agricultural production and caused the food shortages.

Food aid

In July, the government of Zimbabwe appealed for more than 700,000 tonnes of imported maize.

FEWS added that if current shortages of items such as fuel, fertiliser and seed persisted, Zimbabwe would only be able to produce two-thirds of the country's staple food, maize, that it needed in the next agricultural season.

Some 3.8 million Zimbabweans need food aid to survive; by the end of the year, it is predicted that that number will rise to 5.5 million.

The United Nations predicts that more than five million Zimbabweans, about a third of the population, will need food aid this year because of a combination of bad weather, economic mismanagement and the government's land redistribution policy.