The declaration follows similar actions by neighbouring Zambia and Malawi.
A farmer in Mangwe district in southwestern Zimbabwe, stands in the middle of his dried up crop field
“Due to the El Nino-induced drought … more than 80% of our country received below normal rainfall,” President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a speech calling for international aid. In Zimbabwe, the United Nations’ World Food Programme has already rolled out a food assistance programme targeting the 2.7 million people, nearly 20% of the country’s population, from January to March.
More than 60% of Zimbabwe’s 15 million people live in rural areas, growing the food they eat, and sometimes small surpluses that can be sold to cover expenses such as school fees. With relatively little participation in the cash economy, many of those will not be able to buy food even when it is available in markets.
Much of southern Africa is in the throes of a food crisis because of the ongoing drought. Zimbabwe declared a state of national disaster and appealed for humanitarian assistance from international donors in 2019, after a failed crop left tens of thousands in need.
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