Dateline ACT

Southern Africa/0302

Food crisis threatens more than 14 million people

Geneva, September 26, 2002
Rainer Lang

Some 1.6 million people more than initially thought are said to be at risk of starvation between now and March 2003 unless something is done to avert the crisis. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has described the crisis as the most severe and urgent dilemma facing the international community at the moment. The organisation warns that the food crisis in southern Africa threatens 14.4 million people in the region.

Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is concerned that funding for the ACT Appeals issued for the region is extremely low.

WFP reported the new alarming figures after a just-concluded two-week assessment mission to the countries in crisis. The UN agency pointed out the crippling impact of HIV/AIDS and underdevelopment exacerbating the consequences of the drought situation, and the urgent need for seeds and tools. It is a complex crisis with a different situation in each country. The land reform policy in Zimbabwe for example has had a dramatic impact on the commercial food surpluses which were produced before. And there is the discussion about genetically modified food to which some of the countries have strong objections.

ACT members in the region are taking part in a huge effort to avoid a human catastrophe. The overview below gives an impression of the current situation in those countries where ACT members have started programmes to assist people in this crisis. WFP estimates that there is an overall gap of a million tons of cereal in the region.

Zimbabwe

A school in a village 700 kilometers southwest of Harare reports that pupils fall asleep in class from exhaustion. It is said that many now eat only one small meal a day and that the poorest are forced to beg for a handful of corn meal from their neighbours. These are only some of the effects of Zimbabwe's worst food crisis in a decade.

Resorting to one meal per day for a family has a severe nutritional impact especially on children, pregnant women, elderly and disabled people. Lives are under serious threat due to the food shortages. An estimated six million of Zimbabwe’s 12.5 million people are threathened by the hunger crisis. The government has declared the hunger situation in the country a national disaster.

With the current drought and disruptions on commercial farms it is estimated that the grain harvest will drop by more than 50% this year compared to last year. Most of the maize crops, the major source of food in the country, wilted due to the persistent drought from January through March in most parts of the country. The maize harvest dropped by around 50 % compared with the yield of 1.4 tons in 2000/2001. In addition all other crops were also affected by the mid-season water deficit resulting in total crop failure in most parts of the country.

Two ACT members, Lutheran Development Service (LDS) and Christian Care (CC) are responding to the serious food needs of thousands of affected people in the country. The programme of LDS includes supplemeentary feeding, food for work and the distribution of seeds for tolerant crops to build food security. CC has been working as a partner of the World Food Programme (WFP). So far CC has distributed food to more than 100,000 people in the two regions of Harare and Mutare. CC will step up their emergency relief work and it is targeting more than 80,000 people plus over 40,000 children with a feeding programme.

Initially opposed to importing food aid containing genetically modified (GM) material, the government is now accepting such food. Zimbabwe mills the corn before distributing it to ensure it is not planted.

Malawi

Malawi is the worst affected country where reportedly hundreds of people have already died from starvation. It is estimated that about 3.2 million people are threatened by famine, the majority of whom live in the southern part of the country. President Bakili Muluzi declared a state of emergency in February. Malawi needs 560,000 tonnes of food to avert widespread hunger.

The ACT Alliance has been responding to the food needs in selected communities since March. The first part of relief food distribution was finished in July. Further food needs in the peak of the crisis running from August 2002 to March 2003 are addressed in the current Appeal.

In this appeal, the ACT members in Malawi agreed to coordinate closely with DanChurchAid-Malawi office as facilitator to ensure a well coordinated ACT appeal and response. ACT members Church Action in Relief and Development (CARD), Evangelical Lutheran Development Program (ELDP) and the Norwegian Church Aid – Christian Health Association of Malawi (NCA-CHAM) are cooperating under the appeal. The appeal also includes programs of the Church of Central African Presbyterian/Blantyre Synod (CCAP). The appeal focuses on the distribution of relief food and on nutrition and health programs.

Zambia

The government has declared the country’s food shortage a national disaster. Officials say 2.4 million people face starvation and the country could soon run out of food. Severe drought has caused total crop failures in the southern parts of the country, with an estimated maize shortage of 630,000 tons.

The food shortages in the country have been caused not only by the drought in the south of Zambia but also by the lack of policy and government support to the agricultural sectors, critcs say. During the last crop season, over 75% crop failure was experienced in six districts of the country’s 52 districts, and 51% to 75% failure in eleven districts.

ACT member Lutheran World Federation/World Service – Zambia Christian Refugee Service (LWF/WS – ZCRS) reports that animals and poultry are now being sold at very low prices to get money to by food, while the price of maize has risen astronomically to a level most Zambians cannot afford. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of families in the country going without food for days or resorting to eating wild fruits and tubers.

ACT members LWF/WS – ZCRS and Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ) are responding to the crisis by distributing relief food as well as seeds and tools. In the northwest of the country LWF is also managing the Angolan refugee camps.

Lesotho

The government declared a state of famine in April after another poor harvest in this small, mountainous country. The 2002 harvest is said to be 60% below normal and the UN say some 500,000 people will require emergency food aid. The government has indicated that food production in the last two seasons has dropped by almost 55% compared to the previous five years. A complicating factor to the hunger crisis in the country is the high levels of HIV/AIDS cases further weakening the immune systems of people already suffering from malnutrition.

ACT member the Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL) in close collaboration with its member churches is targeting 9,700 most vulnerable people at Ha Sekake in the Qacha’s Nek district and Seforong in the Quthing district for 8 months - up to April 2003. The next harvest should be ready around the month of May. The assistance will include the distribution of maize, beans and oil. In addition, the beneficiary families will receive sorghum seed to plant for the next season.

Mozambique

At least 515,000 people in the provinces of Gaza, Inhambane, Manica, Maputo, Sofala, and Tete in Mozambique will require food aid through March 2003, according to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the Mozambique Ministry of Agriculture. The food shortages in the country are a result of severe dry weather during the 2001/2002 crop season which sharply reduced crop yields in the southern and central parts of the country. This comes after devastating floods in both 2000 and 2001. Some of the areas affected by the floods are now facing food shortages. ACT members report that the situation is deteriorating rapidly. There are reports of affected families in the southern part of the country resorting to eating wild fruits, seeds, and berries.

ACT members the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) and the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique (PCM/IPM), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Ecumenical Committee for Social Development (CEDES) and Christian Aid are providing food aid and seeds to vulnerable communities affected by the current drought in a joint response. This comprises the distribution of food to 29,500 beneficiaries, high-energy protein biscuits to about 12,000 school children in rural schools in drought affected areas and the distribution of seeds to 178,756 beneficiaries or 35,751 families. The latest ACT Appeal for Mozambique was issued at the end of September 2002.

Swaziland

More than 140,000 people in Swaziland are identified by the UN as needing immediate food assistance. They have little or no food stocks available after the failure of the 2001/2002 harvest. This number is expected to grow to 280,000 by December 2002 when present stocks are exhausted. The numbers affected in the areas served by ACT members Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa/Lutheran Development Servics – ELCSA/LDS and the Council of Swaziland Churches (CSC) are at 28,000, expected to rise to 50,000. An Appeal for Swaziland is being prepared at the moment.