FAO Warns of the Starving Masses - Starvation Looms for Many in Sub-Saharan Africa

By Hilmi Toros

As the Word Summit on Sustainable Development got underway yesterday, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that "a large scale humanitarian crisis" looms in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with 13 million people in need of emergency food aid.

In a report on the Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospects in Sub-Saharan
Africa, the Rome-based FAO listed 21 countries in the region as facing "food emergencies", up from 19 in April this year. The listed causes include civil strife, drought, excessive rain, flooding and population displacement.

The report highlights currently pressing concerns taking the spotlight from the Summit's deliberations on medium and long-term sustainable development.

"The food situation in southern Africa is of grave concern," the report says. "A prolonged dry spell during the 2001/02 growing season, and excessive precipitation in parts, devastated crops in large growing areas. In Zimbabwe, reduced planting in the large-scale commercial sector due to land reform activities compounded the problem. Maize production in the sub-region fell sharply, reaching less than one-quarter of last year's level in Zimbabwe, one-third in Lesotho and just over a half in Malawi, Zambia and
Swaziland."

In Zimbabwe, the report warns that the "food and nutritional situation gives cause for serious concern following two consecutive sharply reduced cereal harvests and the country's prevailing economic crisis". Shortages are reported in the main staple, maize, particularly in rural areas.

"The outlook for the crop and livestock production 2002/03 is said to be bleak due to disruption of farming activities in the large-scale commercial sector," according to the FAO report issued in Johannesburg.

More than half the country's population is reported in need of food aid and FAO called for "additional donor contributions" to stem the deterioration of the food situation.

The FAO also reported:

-- Malawi has been hard hit by the food crisis with instances of starvation reported in parts of the country earlier this year. The report estimates that some 3.2 million people have been seriously hurt by the combined effects of reduced food availability and food access. Distribution of relief food has begun to about 500,000 people. That number will rise to 3.2 million by December.

-- In Zambia, severe crop losses during the last cropping season due to drought have left some 2.3 million people, or about one-quarter of the population, in need of food assistance.

-- In Angola, up to half a million people are reported in critical nutritional condition and more malnourished people will likely be found as the security situation in the country improves and more areas become accessible, the report cautions.

The report, released here yesterday, the opening day of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, warned that pledges have been made for only 24 percent of the 507.3 million U.S. dollars needed to provide food assistance to more than 10 million people until the next main harvest in April 2003. Assistance is also urgently needed to provide agricultural inputs to help farmers recover from the crisis. Against FAO's estimated requirements of 25 million U.S. dollars, in mid-August pledges covered only 26 percent of the amount needed.

The 21 countries facing food emergencies were identified as Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya,
Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.