Hunger stalks 500000 in Zim

While president Robert Mugabe and government officials are preoccupied with elections, millions of Zimbabweans are facing starvation as 500000 hectares of maize crop - the staple food - have been written off.

Already millions of people in south-western regions are battling for survival due to food shortages, which politicians ignore as they criss-cross the country preparing for elections.

Agriculture and Mechanisation Minister Joseph Made this week warned that hundreds of thousands of people were facing starvation due to drought, which has resulted in poor yields after vast swathes of the maize crop failed.

Almost a third of the maize crop is a write-off, leaving hunger stalking the land. Made said people were likely to starve to death in months ahead.

"According to the final crop assessment by the government, this past farming season 1600000ha of the maize crop was planted, but, because of lack of rain, 500000ha is a write-off. The planted crops suffered moisture stress because of the prolonged dry spell," Made said.

"We face hunger as a result and urgent measures are needed to avert deaths due to starvation. The rains really let us down."

The failure of the 500000ha of maize crop leaves Zimbabwe with only 1100000ha of the planted crop, which would result in a serious shortfall as the national requirement for maize is two million tonnes. As a result, Zimbabwe needs to import maize.

However, with the government broke and neighbouring countries, which usually come to the rescue, having limited supplies, the situation could get worse.

The crisis has been exacerbated by the fact that government has lost 55 000 tonnes of maize worth about $16-million, due to poor storage at its 44 Grain Marketing Board depots and silos.

The World Food Programme has indicated that over one million Zimbabweans need food aid between this month and the next harvest season. Non-governmental organisational (NGOs) usually come to the rescue.

But Mugabe and Zanu-PF's hostile attitude towards aid agencies could result in people starving. Only recently Masvingo provincial governor Titus Maluleke banned 50 NGOs for allegedly operating without permission, leaving thousands exposed to hunger and starvation.

The move sparked outrage within civil society circles. Humanitarian groups saved most Zimbabweans from dying from starvation during a decade of the economic meltdown and hyperinflation prior to 2009.

Zimbabwe's gross domestic product has shrunk dramatically, to less than half the size it was in 1998, mainly due to land seizures that destroy agriculture, the base of the economy.

Land invasions and disruptions played a critical role in triggering food shortages. The chaotic land reform programme, which began in March 2000 after state-sponsored war veterans grabbed commercial farms, left the country's agriculture in ruins.

About 7000 farms, comprising 11 million hectares, were seized by Mugabe's regime, although most of the prime farmland ended in the hands of top Zanu-PF officials and senior civil servants, who are failing to utilise it.

Because of all this, agricultural output has plummeted for crops that were largely produced by large-scale commercial farmers.

Maize production resulted in food security. Maize is followed in a distant second place by wheat, which is consumed mostly by urban dwellers.

The annual output of these crops has a direct impact on the food security of the country.

When there was no drought, more than half the maize crop was traditionally grown by small-scale farmers. However, even in the good years, up to 40% - or about a million tonnes - was produced by displaced commercial farmers.

During droughts most maize usually came from commercial farmers, because a large proportion of their crop was produced through irrigation.

Their contribution in drought years was usually more than half of the total but, after the land seizures, imports will have to fill the gap.