Food Crisis in Zimbabwe

Introduction

Welcome and thank you for joining us. I am Tony Hall and I just began my service as the United States Ambassador to the United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). I took this job after 24 years in the United States Congress in order to focus on my passion – ending hunger.

I came here to Zimbabwe in my second week on the job because it is at the center of the worst food crisis in the world today. Throughout Southern Africa, more than 14 million people are at risk of starvation unless something is done to stop it. The reason for my trip is to see the situation first-hand.

I started in South Africa on Monday where I went to Durban to see the food aid coming into the port. That food is destined for Zimbabwe and the other five countries in the region that are suffering. Here in Zimbabwe, I was able to get out of Harare and visit the countryside. In the capital city, the jacaranda trees are in beautiful bloom and things appear fine. But further out, it is a different story.

Two days ago, I visited a small group of farmers who have benefited from an FAO irrigation project in the Mutoko District in the northeast. I was pleased to see what could happen when people work hard and work together. They were growing produce and feeding their families. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story.

Yesterday, I witnessed a food distribution in the Muzarabani District about an hour and a half north of Harare, near the Zambezi River valley. This WFP project is being implemented by Christian Care, which is part of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches. At this particular site, the Chiweshe primary school, 559 households representing 2,700 beneficiaries were receiving maize and vegetable oil. Some Corn Soy Blend was also provided to care for about 350 malnourished children. Unfortunately there were no beans this month. It was the sixth month of receiving aid and one of 16 distribution sites. They are only reaching two-thirds of the people who need help.

Some of the women waiting for their food told me that they had run out of their own stocks months ago. Before the distributions started, they were scrounging food to eat. Only one of them I spoke with had any seeds to plant, the others had none and had no money to buy any.

I also met children in school, some of whom had not eaten at all that day. Others had a cup of tea for breakfast and nothing for lunch. Some were showing clear signs of malnutrition - with their hair turning orange and their limbs like twigs. The headmaster said that about 40 percent of his kids have dropped out of school. A few of the kids had their eyes glazed over and showed little ability to learn the lessons in front of them. These were the fortunate ones, they were getting at least some food. What about the ones who receive nothing?

I also visited St. Albert's Hospital, part of the Zimbabwe Association of Church Hospitals, which provides basic medical care for people. They are struggling to do their job given the rising poverty in the area. They were attempting to care for a five-month old child that looked like it had been prematurely born. I traveled around the outskirts of Harare with another NGO, Island Hospice Service. They care for people with AIDS - a plague that affects at least one in every three people in the country.

It was there that I met Charity and Rosemary. Charity is 32 years old, but looked like 92. She has full-blown AIDS and has lost hope. Rosemary is a 12-year old girl who appeared six because of stunting. She lost both of her parents to the scourge of the HIV virus and she has it herself. A girl her age should be in school, playing with friends, enjoying the innocence of childhood. Instead she lies on the floor all day, waiting to die.

There is no famine here in Zimbabwe - yet. But there is a major disaster coming. It is five minutes to midnight and it will be very long and dark night, unless something more is done. It started raining a little this week and some of the farms are getting ready to plant, but there is reason to sound the alarm.

One man told me that Zimbabwe used to be the bread-basket of the region, but now it is a basket case. This country used to produce a surplus that helped to feed its neighbors. Now it has 6.7 million people at risk, almost half of all those threatened in the region and half of this country’s population.

The Government of Zimbabwe bears the responsibility for what has happened to this once-productive country, which is now mired in crisis. The drought has not caused this crisis, it has only compounded the problem.

While I appreciated my meetings with the Minister of Social Welfare, Mr. July Moyo, and believe that he is a decent man, I felt like I had to plead with his government to allow us and others to help his people.

The Government has already recognized that they cannot deal with the crisis alone. President Mugabe declared a national emergency months ago. But they want many to fight this battle with one hand tied behind their backs. It seems like for every step forward, they take a few steps back.

I commend the Government of Zimbabwe for its willingness to accept biotech foods. It is food that Americans, and South Africans, and others, have been eating without a problem for years. Not surprisingly, no one I spoke with was concerned about the hypothetical, unproven risks with biotechnology. They were concerned about getting enough to eat now. Critics say that we might not know all of the consequences of eating this food. Well, we do know the consequence when people do not eat. They die.

Those in power here in Zimbabwe need to help people help themselves - provide seed, build irrigation projects, extend credit. They also need to create the space for the international organizations, the private sector, the NGOs and the churches to operate freely. They need to be given elbow room instead of being bound by restrictions.

I urge them to open their borders to WFP's and the NGO's food aid, instead of keeping it waiting at the border for days because of red tape. I urge them to modify their policies on grain sales to allow farmers to really farm the land. I urge them to allow more NGOs to work with WFP to feed more people.

Finally, let me speak about the generosity and commitment of the people of the United States. Of the food WFP already has distributed here, the US has committed more than 106,000 tons. Some of that has already been delivered, the rest is on its way. Some of this American food will be distributed by the NGOs on a bilateral basis, the rest of the food is given through WFP. We plan to meet 50 percent of the current WFP appeal for food, here in Zimbabwe and in the region.

I am grateful to the other donors, especially the United Kingdom, the European Union and South Africa for their generosity. Unfortunately, there is still a gap in the food and other inputs needed by the UN. We need to redouble our efforts to ensure that people do not starve here in Southern Africa and that they can recover. I urge the international community not to wait until people are dying on their television screens. We cannot afford to wait until then. Then it will be too late.

Farmers should be planting in the next few weeks. If we all do not act fast, people will starve soon and we will be here again next year, only it will be even worse.

The United States is a generous country. We were here during the drought of 1992 and we are here 10 years later. While we disagree with the policies of the government, we care about the people of this country. We do not use food as a weapon. Our former President Reagan once said, "a hungry child knows no politics." We do not ask for your membership in our club of friends before we give food to your people. We do not require particular registration of views before we respond to those in need. We do not demand loyalty or allegiance before we hear the cries of hungry children.

I pray that those in power will hear the cries of their people and that we would not have a catastrophe here in Zimbabwe.

Thank you.