180,000 people in need of food in Northern Highlands

Crop failures from poor rains in the Northern Highlands region of Tanzania have left some 180,000 people in need of food aid, while thousands more require seeds for the upcoming planting season to help avert further food shortages, according to an assessment by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), a USAID-funded organisation. "The farmers have nothing to live on," Gerard Runyoro, the Tanzanian FEWS NET representative, told IRIN on Friday. He said the situation could become critical by November, particularly in the Northern Highlands areas of Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Morogoro. "We can expect to see cases of malnutrition," he said. Food prices are rising, as farmers are not producing as much and they have no income to buy other foodstuffs. "People are depleting their savings. Many will soon start selling off their productive assets," he said. Local government authorities have reportedly asked for 113,000 mt of cereals to avert the crisis. According to the FEWS assessment, however, the amount required is much less. The latest FEWS food security report calls for approximately 19,000 mt of maize-food aid and 1,400 mt of emergency seeds. FEWS recommends that the government release the grain by selling it at 100 Tanzanian shillings ($= 95.66) per kg, which is about half the current market price. Runyoro said the government had not yet made a decision on the matter. The food crisis in the highlands is exacerbated by shortages in neighbouring Kenya, where food prices have risen sharply, prompting many Tanzanian farmers to export what food they have. "Then the farmers cry that they need food aid," Runyoro said. Aid agencies have used a technique for delivering food aid known as community-managed-targeted distribution. It ensures the people in need of food are the ones who get it. Runyoro said the government also needed to actually implement the technique.