A swathe of Zimbabwe, running from the southwest to the northeast, faces a \u201cPhase 3\u201d food crisis after a sporadic start to the November to March rainy season, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network said.<\/p>\n
Phase 3 is just two steps down from full-blown famine, the USAID-funded Fewsnet said in an emailed statement Friday. The forecast for the region is for \u201cbelow average rainfall,\u201d it said. Parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi will also be affected, it added.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second drought in as many years. \u201cMany areas of the region are likely to face a second consecutive poor rainfall season and harvest,\u201d the organization warned.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s particularly bad for Zimbabwe where the \u201cpoor macro-economy is negatively affecting planting and germination rates,\u201d it said. Millions of rural Zimbabweans are too poor to plant and farm corn, the country\u2019s staple food. Zimbabwe faces an economic crisis where shortages of cash, fuel and electricity cripple people\u2019s access to basic food.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh staple prices in the region are contributing to below-average purchasing power for a significant number of poor households,\u201d Fewsnet said, mainly because prices are trending 5% to 10% above the five-year average in South Africa, the region\u2019s biggest producer and the source of much of the region\u2019s milled corn.<\/p>\n
Farmers in Zimbabwe traditionally plant corn in November when the rainy season begins. So far, they\u2019ve received as little as 55% of normal rainfall, with the luckiest receiving 85%.<\/p>\n
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Harare at blatham@bloomberg.net<\/p>\n
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Mackenzie, John Viljoen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A swathe of Zimbabwe, running from the southwest to the northeast, faces a \u201cPhase 3\u201d food crisis after a sporadic start to the November to March rainy season, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network said. Phase 3 is just two steps down from full-blown famine, the USAID-funded Fewsnet said in an emailed statement Friday. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[344,462],"class_list":{"0":"post-17329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-drought","10":"tag-hunger"},"yoast_head":"\n