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An agricultural official in Zimbabwe has said that floods provoked by Cyclone Eline in February had cost farmers in eastern Manicaland province some 143 million Zimbabwe dollars (3.8 million US), AFP reported on Tuesday.
Wilbert Ndadzungira, Zimbabwe Farmers Union Manicaland provincial manager, told the state-run ZIANA news agency both small-scale and commercial farmers had lost between 55 and 60 percent of their produce. Manicaland, which borders Mozambique, is estimated to have a herd of close to a million cattle; 587 of them were killed in the storms and flooding, and an unspecified number had since died of disease.
Ndadzungira asked banks to understand the plight of the farmers and relax repayment periods.
Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union director Nokwazi Moyo said at least 15 percent of its members’ production had been affected by Cyclone Eline, which also wreaked havoc in Mozambique.
“It is still very difficult to visit the affected areas to make an assessment and come up with a collective figure,” Moyo said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
