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afrol News, 16 November - An ironic combination of severe drought and the worst floods in decades have left millions of Zambians in serious need of food aid, announced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) today. "The country is reeling from two freak acts of nature - far too much rain in some areas, and barely a drop in others," said Richard Ragan, WFP Country Director for Zambia. Ragan made an urgent appeal today for US$ 18 million to feed 1.3 million people between December and next March, during the lean season in which family food stocks shrink, particularly among subsistence farmers. Because of the combined national disasters that have hit the country, families are expected to be particularly vulnerable during this period. Severely reduced harvests in most of southern Africa this year will likely force maize prices in Zambia to continue inching upward, climbing beyond the reach of many rural and urban families. The country’s cereal prices are already far higher than normal for this time of year. In Zambia, agriculture accounts for approximately 25 percent of the country’s gross national product and is the most important economic activity among the rural population, who mostly consume the crops they harvest. According to the most recent countrywide government survey (1998), more than 83 percent of the country’s rural population are categorized as poor, with an annual per capita income of just US$ 250. Under WFP’s newly-approved emergency operation, more than 41,000 tons of maize, and nearly 1,000 tons of a specially-prepared nutritious food for children, will be distributed. Over the next four months, farmers’ household food stocks will continue to shrink until the main harvest arrives next March, with the situation becoming dire in January and February. - If relief food is not mobilized and provided in time to families in need, we will see malnutrition levels rise even higher, said Ragan. He said that chronic malnutrition is already at 60 percent, up from 41 percent in 1991. As seen during past food crises in Zambia, in order to cope with food shortages, many households reduce the number of meals eaten, or substitute maize with cheaper and less nutritious foods. Parents sometime resort to pulling their children from school. Often they have no choice but to sell off belongings, thus pushing whole families further down the path to abject poverty. Zambia’s major variations in rainfall, coupled with a lack of irrigation, make it prone to polarized environmental conditions in the country, with floods and drought striking concurrently. Over the first several months of the year, heavy rainfall in the north-western and western parts of the country, ranging from 130 to 170 percent above the 30-year average, caused rivers to flood and major dams to fill beyond capacity. In the worst-affected areas, crops, roads, bridges and homes were completely swept away. In other parts of the country, fields were waterlogged and crops subsequently lost. At the same time, in the southern part of Zambia, late rainfall was followed by a 30-day dry spell, which resulted in heavy crop loss. - This vicious combination of floods and drought has hit Zambia at a crucial time, when most of the southern Africa region faces much-reduced harvests, and large cereal deficits, said Ragan. WFP’s emergency operation will cover the majority of the emergency food aid needs in the country, which were calculated by the Vulnerability Assessment Mapping Steering Committee. The committee’s membership includes WFP, the Zambian Government’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) and others.
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