The recent report from UN News shows that situation in Zimbabwe is moving from a crisis to an emergency at the instance of food because of El Nino-induced drought. Recall that Zimbabwe suffered from two disasters of Tropical Cyclone Idai that swept and marred roads, crops, and houses, thereby killing hundreds and rendering up to thousand of Zimbabweans homeless, and the current drought that has devastated their crops, particularly corn that is being used to make the staple food sadza – a thick porridge that is served with relish.
The drought is also currently affecting the Zimbabwean water supply. According to a spokesman for Harare (Zimbabwe’s capital), Michael Chideme, who revealed that water rationing has begun because two of the capital’s reservoirs have dried out and others are following suit. No less than 3.5 million people and more than a third of rural households in Zimbabwe have been rendered by severe drought and dangerously exposed to food insecurity, according to UN World Food Programme (WFP).
Currently, according to statistics of U.N. aid agencies and the government, between now and April 2020 that the next harvest is expected, Zimbabwe needs about $218 million to stave off hunger for about 5.5 million people till around April 2020 that enough rain is assumed to be falling.
The uneven distribution of rainfall in Zimbabwe this year has affected not only households, power production, manufacturing, recreation but also agriculture. However, the coordinator of UN agencies in Zimbabwe, Bishow Parajuli has urged Zimbabwean farmers to invest in irrigation and small grains as part of efforts to reduce the effect of climate.
With the effect of climate change, there have been cases of cholera because the limited water that is available for use is highly contaminated by raw sewage, garbage, and agricultural, mining, and industrial waste, which so much require expensive treatment before it can be sent into pipes. Reportedly, more than 2 million people in and around Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare, are currently without access to municipal drinking water with their taps running dry, residents are instead relying on merchants, open wells, streams, and boreholes for water.
According to Harare’s city authority, just 50 percent of the 4.5 million people in the capital and its four satellite towns currently have access to municipal water because two of the four dams that supply water to the city have run dry, leading to a reliance on heavily polluted water from the two remaining dams.
However, as the current situation in Zimbabwe is yarning and thirst for international aid, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) after given the scale and scope of the food insecurity in Zimbabwe, the Spokesperson, Herve Verhoosel, unveiled that WFP is planning to scale up to assist over two million people by the peak of the lean season during early next year until then, teams will continue providing food assistance to the most vulnerable populations, while also helping communities to build resilience to climate change and future shock impacts. Over the next nine months, he said that WFP urgently requires $173 million to meet these needs.
The WFP Spokesperson, Herve Verhoosel, concluded that after citing the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee’s conclusion of Rural Livelihood Assessment, the situation was likely to last from now until September with a further deterioration into December that will widen the impact to more than 4.7 million people. He said, moreover, WFP revealed that the hunger period will peak at the height of the lean season, from January through March 2020, when 59 percent of rural households, or over 5.5 million people, will be food insecure.
Despite different earlier forecasts and intensified preparations in Zimbabwe about the forecasts, the effects of the current situation in Zimbabwe have also bounced to the economic meltdown and rising inflation that has hit many making them be struggling with food, fuel, and medicine shortages. Millions of people in Zimbabwe have been reported to be facing hardship, hunger, and chaos as the economy comes close to “meltdown” and drought worsens.
As Zimbabwe is among several southern African nations hit by extreme weather in the 2018-19 growing season, there were notifications issued and revealed by World Organizations that Zimbabwe would be one of the nations that would be handicapped due to climate change and its effects. According to a 2015 World Bank paper, climate change is expected to cut per capita water availability in Zimbabwe by as much as 38% by 2050.
The coordinator of UN agencies in Zimbabwe, Bishow Parajuli explained the foul mood of Zimbabweans which appeared to be pretty serious and really precarious because of the economic challenges also facing the country and people are losing their income. He concluded that Zimbabwe’s hopes now depend on “the generosity of the international community”.
