President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday declared Zimbabwe’s drought a national disaster and said the country needed more than $2 billion in aid to feed millions facing hunger.
“The current agricultural season of 2023/2024 has not performed according to expectations due to the El Nino-induced drought. As a result, more than 80 percent of our country received below-normal rainfall,” Mnangagwa said during a state of the nation address at the State House in Harare, the capital.
“By this declaration, I also call upon all Zimbabweans of goodwill, including those in the diaspora, the international community, United Nations agencies, development and humanitarian partners, international financial institutions, the private sector, churches and other faith-based organizations, as well as individuals, to generously donate towards ameliorating this state of national disaster.”
“Preliminary assessments show that Zimbabwe requires in excess of $2 billion towards various interventions we envisage in our national response,” Mnangagwa said.
Mnangagwa’s statement follows similar announcements by Zambia in late February and Malawi in March, as drought induced by the El Nino global weather pattern triggers a humanitarian crisis in southern Africa.
He said the government would prioritise winter cropping to boost reserves, and work with the private sector to import grains.
El Nino is a naturally occurring weather phenomenon associated with a disruption of wind patterns that means warmer ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific.
Most provinces in Zimbabwe have experienced crop failure since November, with hotter areas declaring grains such as maize a write-off.
Humanitarian agencies including the World Food Programme, which fed 270,000 people between January and March in four districts, have described the hunger situation as “dire”, calling on donors to provide more aid.
Peoplesmind