Formal appeal for food aid on the way

A disagreement over official crop forecast figures has been identified as the reason why the government of Zimbabwe has delayed making a formal appeal for food aid.

The latest crop and food supply assessment mission by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that 4.4 million people in rural areas and 1.1 million in urban areas would require food assistance in 2003/04.

Zimbabwe is once again the country worst affected by food shortages in Southern Africa.

But despite warnings that aid agencies were running out of in-country stocks to feed the millions in need, WFP has been unable to secure funding from donors because there has been no official appeal for aid from the government of Zimbabwe.

Lancaster Museka, the permanent secretary in Zimbabwe's social welfare ministry, told IRIN on Tuesday the government would probably be able to make a formal appeal on Wednesday.

The delay was due to a disagreement over crop forecasts presented by the central statistical office, but this had now been resolved. The cabinet was sitting on Tuesday and "one of the items on the agenda is the crop forecast ... from which the figures for the appeal will come".

By Wednesday "we expect to give them [WFP] the figure, once cabinet has approved it. As of now we don't know what they will come up with, but ... I think we will have a figure [for aid agencies]", Museka said.

WFP had stressed that a "formal appeal for specific amounts of food aid" was a requirement for "several major donors", who would otherwise not be able to commit resources to food aid in Zimbabwe.

For an earlier IRIN report go to: Lack of formal appeal threatens food security