At the end of last year, the US government made available $104 million to procure 208,000 tons of food aid to Zimbabwe. In addition, the US Agency for International Development also provided almost $3 million in non-food humanitarian assistance. This included the provision of seeds to farmers, hospital based feeding programs for malnourished children and monitoring of internal displacement within Zimbabwe.

In its effort to further reduce the strain on the already cash strapped Zimbabwe government, the US recently announced a new $20 million food aid program to be implemented by the Consortium for the Southern African Famine Emergency, through World Vision, Care International, and the Catholic Relief Services.

France also extended a three million Euros food aid grant, which will be channeled through the WFP to assist people who are in need of food assistance, while China donated 400 tons of food.

The humanitarian crisis, which has affected Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland is the worst that southern Africa has experienced for a decade.

Not all people are lucky to receive food aid. Some people in some remote areas have to depend on wild berries.

Although the UN said it increased food imports from 40 000 tons in January to 50 000 in February and possibly 70 000 to 80 000 tons this month, the pledges would only last up to the end of early April. This evidently calls for new urgent commitments for food import to be made to avert starvation.

Lovermore Mataire