The number of Zimbabweans living in rural areas who will soon require food aid is likely to be higher than earlier estimated because food prices are rising, a regional food watchdog has warned.
A report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet), seen by AFP on Wednesday, says earlier estimates, which showed 2,2-million rural Zimbabweans would need food aid, will have to be revised upwards following hikes in the price of maize, which would put the commodity out of the reach of many.
”Due to much-higher-than-expected maize prices and no evidence of commensurate increases in rural incomes, the rural population in need of food aid is almost certainly higher than that originally estimated” in May this year, the report says.
The report does not give a new figure of those likely to be in need.
In some areas, the price of maize — a staple food in Zimbabwe — has nearly doubled since April, Fewsnet said.
The government of President Robert Mugabe has said food aid from outside the country will not be necessary and maintains that Zimbabwe expects a ”bumper” harvest.
The report also warns that the cost of living is rising for urban dwellers because of rampant inflation.
”In urban areas, food security is continuously being eroded by high inflation rates,” the report says. It says poor households in urban areas are finding it difficult to buy the food they need.
The report notes that although Zimbabwe’s inflation rate has decreased from a peak of more than 620% in January to slightly more than 250% in September, the rate remains ”among the highest in the world”.
Zimbabwe has been in the throes of economic crisis with high inflation and unemployment since elections in 2000 that were marred by violence, and a land-reform programme that has seen thousands of white-owned commercial farms seized and handed over to landless blacks. — Sapa-AFP