World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) honour World Food Day by reaffirming their dedication to work with communities, development agencies, and the private sector to end hunger in our lifetime. Tomorrow, a commemoration ceremony will take place at Nharira Growth Point to raise awareness and understanding of ways to fight hunger in Zimbabwe.  

HARARE – A new report on food needs in Zimbabwe says that nearly one in five rural people in the country – an estimated 1.6 million people – are likely to need food assistance during the peak of the coming “hunger season.” The number of people in need is 60 percent higher than the one million who needed food assistance during the last lean season.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) signed a landmark agreement in Botswana on 25 May 2012 to work together to fight food insecurity in the 15 member countries of the SADC region of southern Africa.

HARARE    More than one million people in Zimbabwe will be unable to meet their food needs during the lean season between now and March, in spite of improvements in the food security situation in recent years.

ROME – Although food security in Zimbabwe improved significantly following government efforts and a US$70 million international assistance programme providing farmers with subsidized inputs, the country still needs agricultural and food assistance next year for some 1.68 million people.

With more than five million Zimbabweans facing severe food shortages, WFP today appealed for US$140 million to provide vital relief rations over the next six months. Without additional contributions, stocks will run out in January .

FAO has called for a renewed commitment to guarantee the right to food for the world's hundreds of millions of hungry people.

Read UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon message to mark World Food Day, which this year promotes the Right to Food.

Floods across southern Africa are wreaking havoc for tens of thousands of people caught by rising water that has washed away crops, homes and claimed the lives of dozens of people, WFP has said.