Zimbabwe needs to import 1,2-million tonnes of food to support its population, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) James Morris said on Wednesday.
”Some three to four million people will need help in the next year. It will peak this December through January to March,” Morris told reporters at Johannesburg International airport.
He has just completed a tour of countries in the Southern Africa region.
Morris said President Robert Mugabe made a ”strong commitment in support of non-governmental organisations” to distribute food aid.
Morris stressed the importance of NGOs helping to strengthen Southern Africa’s capacity to distribute food as well as to tackle HIV/Aids.
While discussing the forced removals of informal businesses and houses in Zimbabwe was not the purpose of this trip, Morris said he had chatted to Mugabe about it privately.
”I told him how important it was to respect the rights of every citizen … especially those facing difficult circumstances.”
Morris said the WFP was not reluctant to distribute food in Zimbabwe. ”I wish the world was perfect,” he said.
”It is the job of the WFP to see that the world does not starve”.
He said the world was replete with difficulties but that it was up to other organisations to deal with other issues.
Turning to HIV/Aids, Morris said he had learned that Zimbabwe’s health ministry was in a strong position to tackle the pandemic.
Morris also said that he had learned that in Malawi 95% of people on anti-retrovirals had ”gone back to work”.
However, he said Zimbabwe still had a long way to go, with only 12 000 people on anti-retroviral treatment versus 350 000 in need of it.
”Three thousand people died from Aids a week in Zimbabwe. In Malawi 10 people die an hour,” he said.
Morris added that he had been impressed with community and government feeding schemes in Botswana and Zambia.
He also said that something needed to be done to the agricultural system in Southern Africa where a combination of issues had led to the world’s most serious humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by bad weather. – Sapa