Clarity needed on harvest figures, Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the Zimbabwean government's alleged "lack of transparency" on grain availability could jeopardise access to food for millions of people in the coming months. The rights group called on the government to make information on grain availability public, as "concealing the basis for its 2004 crop yield estimate, the size of its strategic grain reserve and the details of the government's Grain Marketing Board operations in food distribution and assistance ... threaten its citizens' access to food". In May the government announced that this year's harvest would produce 2.4 million mt of maize, a figure significantly higher than last year. "While there is general consensus that the 2004 crop was better than that of 2003, UN agencies, donor countries and NGOs have challenged the government's estimate for this year," HRW said. Based on its crop forecast, the government made a decision not to renew an appeal for general international food aid. "As a result, despite scepticism concerning the government's estimate and the widely held belief that Zimbabwe will experience food shortages this year, the World Food Programme has been unable to make plans and raise money for providing general food assistance to Zimbabwe," the rights group added. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) also warned that the "controversy surrounding Zimbabwe's cereal production for the 2003/04 agricultural season, coupled with the lack of data on cereal imports, continues to make thorough food security analysis and response planning very difficult". FEWS NET said: "The suspension of general feeding in April, May and June this year by food aid agencies in the country, in response to the government's announcement that the country has enough food from the 2003/04 ... harvest, has left the majority of food insecure households more dependent on their limited consumption, expenditure and income coping strategies." It noted that the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, in which the government participated, had estimated that about 2.2 million rural people would require food aid between July and November 2004. The figure was expected to peak at 2.3 million during the hunger period [December 2004 to March 2005]. Peter Takirambudde, executive director of HRW's Africa Division, noted that "by withholding vital information on grain availability, the Zimbabwean government is gambling with its citizens' access to food". "Under international law, the government must take all necessary steps to fully ensure its citizens' right to adequate food," he added. FEWS NET said available "sub-national data" indicated that food security "is seriously threatened" in 11 rural districts in Zimbabwe, as they "are expected to use up their cereal harvests within the next four months". The HRW briefing paper on the issue titled, 'The Politics of Food Assistance in Zimbabwe', is available at: www.hrw.org