Families turn to prostitution

2003-10-23 22:08

Harare - Serious shortages of food in parts of Zimbabwe have forced some families to resort to prostitution and child labour, a United Nations report said on Thursday.

The monthly humanitarian situation report said many households were relying on "negative coping mechanisms such as child labour and prostitution as food shortages worsen across the country".

Others raised money to buy food through the sale of livestock, illegal gold panning or selling traditional beer brewed from wild fruit, it said.

According to the UN food agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), an increasing number of children have been dropping out of school because of hunger.

The UN says the food crisis in Zimbabwe is worsening and most districts in the country have exhausted their food stocks.

Less than half of the funds the WFP has appealed for to feed millions of starving Zimbabweans has been received from donors this year.

An estimated 5.5 million Zimbabweans, or about half of the total population of 11.6 million, will require emergency food aid by the end of the year, the WFP says.

The current food shortages have been blamed on erratic rains, the negative impact on production of land reform and limited availability of seed and fertilisers to newly settled farmers.

The scarcity of staple foods has been worsened by a continued government ban on imports of maize by the private sector and price controls that producers say are unsustainable.

A critical shortage of foreign exchange could limit the government's capacity to import food.

- AFP