USAID donates sorghum worth $12 million to WFP

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) on Wednesday announced a donation of 30,000 mt of sorghum, valued at $12 million, for distribution in Zimbabwe by the World Food Program (WFP). Estimates indicate that more than five million rural Zimbabweans, around half the population, need food aid before the next harvest in April. The number of food-insecure people in urban centres is less well quantified, but may be as high as one million. Preliminary information suggests that these numbers may increase over the coming months, USAID said. WFP is targeting 4 million of the most vulnerable Zimbabweans for food aid, while the C-Safe consortium, grouping the NGOs Care, Catholic Relief Services and World Vision are feeding another 400,000 people. "The US government remains concerned about Zimbabwe's on-going humanitarian crisis, and is committed to providing assistance to the most food-insecure members of the population. To improve the country's ability to respond to the humanitarian needs of the Zimbabwean people, the US government encourages the government of Zimbabwe to institute economic policy reforms that provide incentives for the private sector to play a role in feeding Zimbabweans," USAID said. Lack of donor funding for WFP's US $311 million regional appeal, two-thirds of which is earmarked for Zimbabwe, forced the food agency to halve its cereal ration to more than 2.6 million hungry Zimbabweans in December. "Without sufficient food people won't have enough energy to cultivate crops for the year's first harvest which is vital for stabilising a household's food needs," WFP regional director for Southern Africa, Mike Sackett, warned last month. Zimbabwe's lean season starts in January, a period when granaries tend to be exhausted and people facing food shortages are most reliant on food aid.