The World Food Program's Work in Zimbabwe

The World Food Program's efforts in Zimbabwe will require an additional $140 million dollars if the food is to be available through the April 2009, according to the WFP in October, 2008.

The WFP report includes reference to malnourished children:

"In Zimbabwe, 28 percent of children under five are already chronically malnourished.

To boost its already-substantial logistics operation, WFP has opened a new transhipment point in the central town of Gweru and a new warehouse in the South African border town of Musina, which has the capacity to bag 50,000 tons of food over the next six months.

But these plans are all subject to sufficient donations arriving in time. WFP currently faces a shortfall of over 145,000 metric tons of food, including 110,000 tons of cereals. Without extra donations, WFP will run out of supplies in January – just as needs are peaking."

In addition, the WFP report gives details on the donor support as of October 2008:

“Our donors have been extraordinarily generous over the past six years, but the food crisis is far from over. We are urging them to dig deep once again,” said Darboe, adding that cash donations will allow WFP to purchase crucial commodities regionally.

In addition to WFP’s beneficiaries, a group of US-sponsored NGOs known as C-SAFE plans to provide food to over 1 million Zimbabweans in districts not covered by WFP. With these two humanitarian pipelines, food assistance should reach around 5 million people at the peak of the crisis.

While WFP has received almost US$175 million so far in 2008, another US$140 million is urgently needed to fund WFP’s huge emergency operation until April 2009.

Donors to WFP’s operations in Zimbabwe in 2008 include: United States (US$105 million); United Kingdom (US$18 million); Australia (US$14 million); Netherlands (US$11 million); EC (US$10 million); Canada (US$6 million); Japan (US$3 million); Norway (US$2 million); Switzerland (US$1.8 million); Ireland (US$1.5 million); Sweden (US$ 1.2 million); Italy (US$780,000); Spain (US$470,000); and, Greece (US$72,000)."

Given that SADC has recently given Mugabe and ZANU(PF) their "green-light" to do as they please, it would seem helpful if these countries did more in feeding those Zimbabweans who are now in need. It also seems the height of folly for Mugabe to continue to blame the targeted sanctions again himself and his cronies for the failure of the Zimbabwean economy, when the same countries who are imposing these sanctions are spending such large sums of money to feed those in need.