The food crisis in Zimbabwe is worsening with the World Food Programme saying it urgently needs $200 million to feed more than four million people on the brink of starvation.
World Food Programme (WFP) regional director for Southern Africa Gerald says the situation is desperate in the country due to a devastating drought and an economic meltdown.
WFP says nearly eight million people are in need of food assistance in a country, once dubbed the regional breadbasket.
A recent report compiled by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency concluded that poverty has reached unprecedented levels with more than 76 percent of children in rural areas having slid into poverty.
Zimbabwe’s Agriculture Minister said recently that the country is left with 100,000 tonnes of maize, expected to last only one month at a time millions of people are food insecure. Zimbabweans consume almost 800,000 metric tonnes of maize a year.