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WFP food aid targets 850,000 Zimbabweans

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The World Food Program (WFP) said Thursday it has targeted to provide food aid to 856,000 people facing hunger in Zimbabwe in the nine months to March next year.

Poor weather conditions during the 2014-2015 agricultural season including erratic rainfall and long dry spells significantly impacted on Zimbabwe's food production.

The country suffered a 40 percent decline in maize production in 2015 and will need to import 700,000 tonnes of the staple to avert shortages.

According to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, an estimated 1.5 million rural Zimbabweans or 16 percent of the rural population have been left food insecure at the peak of the hungry season due to low grain production in the 2014/15 farming season.

WFP program official Tinashe Mubaira told Xinhua that the UN agency had to date received contributions of 18.5 million U.S. dollars to provide food aid to the needy in Zimbabwe.

The contribution will cover the needs of 220,000 people from September 2015 to March 2016, he said.

Meanwhile, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development (DFID) on Thursday announced a contribution of 43 million U.S. dollars for food aid to Zimbabweans.

The cash donation will benefit over 650,000 individuals in 29 districts across Zimbabwe during the peak hunger period between January and March 2016. Endit