1.1 million Zimbabweans are at risk of hunger. They will need food aid before next year’s harvest season, according to the Food and Nutrition Council in Zimbabwe.
The council in a report said rural smallholder farmers are those that could be worst hit by food shortages.
The ZimVAC report anticipates that some 2.4 million will need food aid at the peak of the lean season next year.
WFP’s spokeswoman for Zimbabwe Ashley Baxstrom in a statement said “WFP plans to address the most urgent food security needs of 1 135 500 people during the peak of the 2018-19 lean season.”
“Vulnerable groups are always disproportionately affected by adverse conditions (and) shocks,” Baxstrom adds.
Food prices are increasing in Zimbabwe with the country still yet to make any head ways in recovering from its economic crisis.
The UN food agency says it will need $71.2 million to respond to the crisis. It has so far raised $22 million.
Zimbabwe is not just battling economic crisis but there is also cash shortages, high unemployment and high cost of living.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has a daunting task now in fixing the country’s economy. He promised at his swearing in last month to do just that.
Expectations are high though for him to deliver as he begins his five year tenure as President of Zimbabwe.
Source: Africafeeds.com
