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400 000 Swazis need food aid
23/05/2007 23:03 - (SA)
Rome - Drought and high temperatures have resulted in the "worst harvest ever" in Swaziland, leaving one in three people in need of food aid in the southern African country, the UN food agencies said on Wednesday.
Some 400 000 Swazis - about a third of the population - will need about 40 000 tons of food between now and the next maize harvest in April 2008, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Food Programme.
Higher prices for the staple crop will in turn "severely constrain" purchasing power in a country where the majority live on less than a dollar a day, the FAO/WFP report warned. Compounding the crisis is a high prevalence rate of HIV/Aids in the kingdom, which has the highest adult HIV infection rate in the world, estimated at 42.6%.
The report noted that local shortages of major cereals have pushed up prices at a time when the price of maize has also surged in neighbouring South Africa, the main exporter to the landlocked kingdom.
Swaziland's King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, last month expressed concern about the growing drought, but went ahead with lavish celebrations to mark his 39th birthday.
The bash, at a cost estimated between 20 million and 50 million emalangeni (€2.1m to €5.7m), drew criticism from rights groups but the king said it helped boost national morale.
- AFP
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