HARARE (Commodity Online) : International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Zimbabwe is again facing severe food crisis.

In a statement, it said an estimated 2.17 million Zimbabweans, a fourth of the country’s population are in need of food aid.



The Red Cross pleaded for international funds for urgent food aid to Zimbabwe. UN organizations also have appealed for more donor funds.

In some parts of the country, the food situation is as bad as many of our volunteers and staff have ever seen it,” said the statement by Zimbabwe Red Cross Society.

Erratic rain - too much in some areas and too little in others - has damaged crops of corn, the staple food across the southern African nation. The former regional breadbasket also has been hit by acute shortages of seed and fertilizer.

At least 4 million Zimbabweans are estimated to have fled the nation’s economic meltdown in recent years to find work in neighboring countries and further afield, leaving the population at about 8 million.

The Red Cross expressed particular concern about the possible impact of existing and looming food shortages on people living with or affected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In December 2009, the Red Cross extended emergency food operation in Zimbabwe until October 2010, calling on donors for $33.2 million in extra funding. The agency faces a shortfall in funding of about $23.9 million.

Most of country’s commercial farms, owned previously by white settlers were seized by the government since 2000.

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