Millions of Zimbabweans, already facing food shortages owing to poor rainfall in previous seasons, have been pushed to the brink by the El Nino induced drought that’s been declared a national disaster. Following that distress call, humanitarian agencies are now scrambling to raise the money.
“the funding environment has not been easy. There are lot of competing emergencies going on. Think of Syria and think of other larger scale emergency that attract the main attention of donors. We are very happy the government has now declared a state of emergency it will now help us raise money” Neils Balzer, Deputy Country Director, World Food Programme
The WFP is already feeding 600,000 people in 20 districts over the next two months using part of a 65 million dollar kitty it had secured based on the previous need. The number of the vulnerable has now doubled and much more will be needed over the next twelve months. What’s also critical is to ensure interventions are sustainable.
“The same time its also an opportunity by responding to the current situation to make sure that we don’t respond in a way that is free food handouts but we look at how we can work with communities to create assets such as small dams, rehabilitation of irrigation schemes which can in turn be used towards next seasons when there is a disaster to bolster their resilience.” Neils Balzer
The drought is also taking its toll on livestock and villagers are being encouraged to destock. That could have implications further down the line
“If the situation then improves a lot people are not going to have draught power which they need to plough their fields because they have lost so much in terms of livestock and there is very little they can do to keep their livestock going when they cant graze or get water.” Jestina Mukoko, Director, Zimbabwe Peace Project
Humanitarian agencies are at the forefront of the fight, but there is a role to play too for the private sector One of the country’s leading private sector bodies says it is lobbying government to allow private players to import grain.
“At this moment government has to liberalise as much as it can in the securing of such permits for importation of grain… I think you are aware grain permits have not been easy to secure.” Chris Mugaga, CEO, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
Financial institutions could help out the cash strapped government by structuring syndicated loans for the imports. All in all an estimated $1,5 billion, more than a quarter of the national budget is needed to feed 3 million people according to the CEO of Zimbabwe’s National Chamber of Commerce.