More Than Half of Zimbabwe’s People Face Hunger, Report Says
- Country needs over 1 million tons of food through 2020 harvest
- Rural areas hit hardest as most people are subsistence farmers
A member of Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV) gives candy to a Zimbabwean child as Zimbabweans await food aid packages in Harare on May 9, 2019.
Photographer: Mustafa Kamaci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Zimbabwe’s government and donors will need to spend about $218 million to stave off hunger that could affect 5.5 million people, or 59% of the population, according to a high-level report.
Drought and a poorly performing economy led to a rise in food insecurity, according to the report from the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, a group comprising government, the World Food Programme and non-governmental agencies. Harvests between April and June should see the number of people facing hunger fall to about 3.6 million, most of them in rural areas where people rely on subsistence farming.