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Southern African famine 'averted' - for now
06/03/2003 08:13 - (SA)
Bothaville - Although famine in southern Africa had largely been averted, food aid organisations were still bracing themselves for a deterioration in Zimbabwe over the next year, delegates attending the annual congress of Grain SA were told on Wednesday.
"Whereas other countries in the region are making some progress towards recovery, Zimbabwe is likely to remain in a state of crisis for the foreseeable future. We are bracing ourselves for the coming 12 months," said Mike Sackett, deputy regional director of the United Nations" World Food Programme (WFP).
According to Sackett, Zimbabweans accounted for half of the 15 million people still in need of food aid in southern Africa.
"The (Zimbabwean) economy is still deteriorating. Shortages of staple foods and commodities continue. Prospects for good crop yields this season are not positive.
"In early February, the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association warned that the country can only expect a maximum tobacco yield this year of 75 000 to 80 000 tons compared with last year's production of 165 000 tons.
"This is particularly significant, as tobacco is the main source of foreign currency and is the single largest employer in the country," Sackett said.
He said it was reported that Zimbabwe would be required to import about 20 000 tons of maize seed this year. The country had not needed to import maize since hybrid seed maize was introduced in the early 1950s.
However, food aid was helping the rest of southern Africa.
"So far a humanitarian catastrophe has been averted. Food security appears to have stabilised in most areas targeted by food aid. However, overall vulnerability has not markedly improved.
"Crop yields for the current season are likely to be less than normal due to insufficient agricultural inputs for the planting season, less than normal cultivation of arable land and erratic weather patterns." Sackett said.
American ambassador to South Africa Cameron Hume told the congress earlier on Wednesday that southern Africa was still facing an unprecedented humanitarian emergency and devastating food shortages.
"While serious droughts have taken their toll on the southern African region in the past, the current crisis is not simply the fault of bad weather. Economic mismanagement and restrictions on commercial markets have played a key role in this crisis, particularly in Zimbabwe," Hume said.
"While emergency actions have saved lives, unfortunately the risk of future catastrophe remains high. The region still faces a growing Aids pandemic, low agricultural output and decaying economic, political and humanitarian situations - particularly in Zimbabwe."
The ambassador said he believed that only a free and fair election would effect a radical turnaround in Zimbabwe.
Asked by a congress delegate why the US and the UN Human Rights Commission did not "come to the rescue of farmers and their workers chased off their land" in Zimbabwe, Hume said the international system was "not necessarily all it is cracked up to be".
- SAPA
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