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ZIMBABWE / HUNGER
STORY: ZIMBABWE / HUNGER
TRT: 3:16
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WFP ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SHONA / NATS
DATELINE: 3-18 DECEMBER 2019, VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ZIMBABWE
18 DECEMBER 2019, KASIKA, RUSHINGA DISTRICT, MT. DARWIN, ZIMBABWE
1. Aerial shot, dry river
5 DECEMBER 2019, CENTENARY DISTRICT, ZIMBABWE
2. Wide shot, failed maize crops
4 DECEMBER 2019, MAZAMBARA, MUNYUKI, ZIMBABWE
3. Various shots, Shamba in the field
4. Various shots, children in the community
6 DECEMBER 2019, SAKUBVA MARKET, MUTARE, ZIMBABWE
5. SOUNDBITE (Shona) Elias Shamba, Farmer:
"I am a farmer. I grow sorghum, maize and cotton. When food runs out we survive mainly on food that we receive from WFP."
6. Various shots, Sakubva, the second largest market in Zimbabwe. Setup of Gladys Chikukwa, tomato vendor, stacking tomatoes in boxes.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Gladys Chikukwa, Tomato Vendor:
"Things are rotting in this market because of prices, because today tomatoes will go for 250, tomorrow 300 dollars, tomorrow 400 dollars and people they don't have that money."
5 DECEMBER 2019, MAZOE, HARARE, ZIMBABWE
8. Wide shot, street views
9. Various shots, gas station
10. SOUNDBITE (Shona) Even Chivro:
"We came here yesterday in the morning at 8, we are still waiting because there is no fuel, but when we came it was there. So we are still waiting but we don't know at what time it is coming"
4 DECEMBER 2019, MAZAMBARA SCHOOL, MUNYUKI, ZIMBABWE
11. Various shots, WFP food distribution
18 DECEMBER 2019, HARARE, ZIMBABWE
12. SOUNDBITE (Shona) Pauline Mukandakanda, Local Resident:
“Because of the drought this year I lost 6 of my cows and everything that I planted withered. I only managed to harvest 1 and a half bucket.”
4 DECEMBER 2019, MAZAMBARA SCHOOL, MUNYUKI, ZIMBABWE
13. Various shots, Children waiting at WFP food distribution
18 DECEMBER 2019, HARARE, ZIMBABWE
14.SOUNDBITE (English) Niels Balzer, WFP Deputy Country Director in Zimbabwe:
“2019 has been an exceptionally tough year for all Zimbabweans. We see a factor, or combination of factors: economic downturn, climate change and subsequent droughts that have lead more than 8 million people into food insecurity. As WFP we are looking at ramping up our response over the next couple of weeks to reach almost double of what we had planned.”
18 DECEMBER 2019, KASIKA, RUSHINGA DISTRICT, MT. DARWIN, ZIMBABWE
15.Various shots, Shailet Kadangirana arrives home from WFP food distribution with her rations and prepares a meal for her family.
Millions of Zimbabweans pushed into hunger by prolonged drought and economic crisis face an increasingly desperate situation unless adequate funding for a major relief operation materialises quickly, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.
With nearly eight million people – half the population – now food insecure, WFP plans to double the number of people it assists - up to 4.1 million - but needs over US$200 million for its emergency response in the first half of 2020 alone.
SOUNDBITE (English) Niels Balzer, WFP Deputy Country Director in Zimbabwe:
“2019 has been an exceptionally tough year for all Zimbabweans. We see a factor, or combination of factors: economic downturn, climate change and subsequent droughts that have lead more than 8 million people into food insecurity. As WFP we are looking at ramping up our response over the next couple of weeks to reach almost double of what we had planned.”
Elias Shamba is a 53-year-old farmer with 24 family members. He said that it is hotter and drier than when he was younger. Last year he only harvested six bags of maize and lost two rounds of planting to drought. When WFP food assistance ran out, he collected bugs at night from the trees to supplement his meal.
SOUNDBITE (Shona) Elias Shamba, Farmer:
"I am a farmer. I grow sorghum, maize and cotton. When food runs out we survive mainly on food that we receive from WFP."
Years of drought have slashed food production in Zimbabwe, once an African breadbasket. This year’s maize harvest was down 50 percent on 2018, with overall cereal output less than half the national requirement. By August of 2019, WFP was forced to launch an emergency lean season assistance programme to meet rising needs, months earlier than anticipated.
Since then, food shortages have become ever more pronounced. This month, maize, was only available in half of the markets WFP monitors countrywide.
Worryingly, runaway inflation – a symptom of the wide-ranging economic crisis Zimbabwe is experiencing – has propelled the prices of basic commodities beyond the reach of all but the most privileged. Amid dire shortage of foreign exchange and of local currency, Zimbabwe has seen drastic price increases - bread now costs 20 times what it cost six months ago, while the price of maize has nearly tripled over the same period.
Sakubva is the second largest market in Zimbabwe. Gladys Chikukwa is a tomato vendor.
SOUNDBITE (English) Gladys Chikukwa, Tomato Vendor:
"Things are rotting in this market because of prices, because today tomatoes will go for 250, tomorrow 300 dollars, tomorrow 400 dollars and people they don't have that money."
Soaring fuel prices and shortages lead to long lines of cars for fuel at the petrol station.
SOUNDBITE (Shona) Even Chivro:
"We came here yesterday in the morning at 8, we are still waiting because there is no fuel, but when we came it was there. So we are still waiting but we don't know at what time it is coming"
The deepening hardship is forcing families to eat less, skip meals, take children out of school, sell off livestock and fall into a vicious cycle of debt. There is little respite expected for the most vulnerable, including subsistence farmers who grow most of Zimbabwe’s food and depend on a single, increasingly erratic rainy season.
This season’s rains are again late and inadequate, with planted seeds having failed to germinate in many areas. Forecasts of continuing hot and dry weather in the weeks ahead signal another poor harvest in April, putting lives and livelihoods at risk.
Pauline Mukandakanda, Local Resident:
“Because of the drought this year I lost 6 of my cows and everything that I planted withered. I only managed to harvest 1 and a half bucket.”
WFP’s operational scale-up is challenging in many respects. Owing to the acute shortages of local currency and rapid inflation, it entails a large-scale switch from cash-based assistance to food distributions. WFP is uniquely positioned to make this switch in times of crisis but can only do so with sustained donor support.
Because drought and flooding have tightened the availability of food across much of Southern Africa, much of the nearly 200,000 metric tons of food required to deliver assistance to the 4.1 million people targeted by WFP must be sourced beyond the continent, shipped to neighbouring South Africa or Mozambique and moved by road into land-locked Zimbabwe.
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