Food shortages becoming critical warns parliamentary body

Zimbabwe's response to food insecurity is too little and too late, a recent government fact-finding mission has revealed. Presenting the results of an inquiry by the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare parliamentary portfolio committee into the drought relief distribution programme to the House of Assembly, committee chairperson and ZANU-PF Member of Parliament, Mabel Mawere, said distribution delay had left some people on the brink of starvation. "Our fact-finding mission covered the hardest-hit areas of Masvingo and Matabeleland South [provinces in southern Zimbabwe], but according to my understanding it is affecting the whole country," Mawere told IRIN. Warning that maize distribution was urgently needed, Mawere added: "the food is procured by the government from national production or from South Africa - the problem is that it can take four to six months for maize grain to be transported" to those in need. "Lack of fuel is the real problem." Zimbabwe is trying to cope with four years of food shortages caused by erratic rainfall, the impact of the chaotic fast-track land reform programme on the agricultural sector and a critical lack of foreign currency to import inputs, such as fertiliser and fuel. The official Herald newspaper quoted the portfolio committee as saying, "Drought relief food was taking too long to reach the intended beneficiaries" because of the "erratic supply of grain at the Grain Marketing Board depots [state-run outlets], compounded by the shortage of fuel to transport the available maize." The Herald reported that "in Chiredzi District [southeastern Zimbabwe], 77,000 households [are] in need of food aid; maize was scarce", and in "Chivi District [southeastern Zimbabwe] 31,469 households required food aid", which meant about 1,573mt of maize had to be delivered every month. However, Mawere said the amount of maize received could not cover the needs: Beitbridge District, for example, had requested 256mt of maize but had only received 100mt. An aid worker warned that the food security situation could "become very critical" in Matabeleland South and Masvingo, which "are traditionally food-insecure areas", because "we understand food is going to run out in the next four months". According to the Herald, "social welfare officials told the committee that due to insufficient supplies of grain, people engaged in the public works programme were now just receiving Zim$30,000 [about 30 US cents] without the [usual] 50kg bag of maize". The committee recommended that the Zim$30,000 be increased to at least Zim$100,000 [about 98 US cents] and that maize be dispatched to beneficiaries "as soon as maize was procured". In Zimbabwe, food is not only delivered late or is unavailable, it is also unaffordable: "with inflation at 1,042.9 percent, most food items are beyond ordinary Zimbabweans' reach," commented John Makumbe, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. Mawere said the committee had submitted its report to the National Taskforce on Food Security, chaired by Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of National Security. "They are going to readdress the problem," she said.