Zimbabwe on the brink of new crisis as food runs out

[Newsjock]

Source: The Observer

Six months after the elections, Zimbabwe still lacks a functioning government and is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Following the worst wheat harvest since the independence war, bread has run out and sugar supplies are set to follow. USAid, the American government humanitarian agency, is warning that the country could run out of the maize, the staple food, by next month. Farming officials say the government's stated aim of producing maize on 500,000 hectares this season is unattainable.

'We are in serious trouble,' said Jabulani Gwaringa, of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU), which represents small-scale operators. 'There is no seed, fertiliser and crop chemicals on the market. Banks are not offering farmers any credit. In July we had produced about 25,000 metric tons of seed maize. We are down to 9,000 because farmers opted to eat their hybrid seed or sell it to millers.'

One European diplomat said: 'We are already hearing isolated reports of child deaths from hunger.' In the poorest provinces, such as Matabeleland North, subsistence farmers have begun bartering their livestock for maize: one cow buys six buckets of maize, while four live chickens or a goat buy one bucket.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/05/zimbabwe.internationalaidanddevelopment

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. maybe running virtually every farmer out of the country was a bad idea?

nah, couldn't be, find somebody british to blame.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[cobalt1999]

4. Mugabe needs to find a friendly country for his exile.

If he stays much longer, he is going to find himself in front of a revolutionary firing squad.

[ohio2007]

5. How many countries speak highly of Mugabe? many gave him the cold shoulder in Italy not long ago

Somebody must think highly of him.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. the only place I see Mugabe praised

is right here on DU, the DU Robert Mugabe fan club is extremely militant. One guy will even explain to you how the crisis in Zimbabwe is not the fault of Robert Mugabe, but Bill Clinton and Tony Blair!

Just don't mention Mugabe's "special relationship" with the wealthy Rhodesians - it really upsets them when they want to see Mugabe as sticking it to whitey.

[mainegreen]

13. South Africa?

They for some reason seem to speak highly of him.

[jzodda]

7. I wonder if this is the worst run government on earth now

Not including places where civil war rages like Somalia. This government controls all its territory and has since independence. They also have natural resources and good farm land. So for it to come to this, the worst hyper inflation since Germany in the 1920s, they must be the most utterly incompetent government on the planet right now.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. for atleast the next few years

I am sure Jacob Zuma will win the title for South Africa (or whatever Mr. Zuma decides the proper Zulu name for the country is) in the years ahead.

The tragedy of Zimbabwe is it was the only place in Africa that passed from colonial rule 100% intact, the Bush War did about $13.46 in damage to the entire country.

Zimbabwe could have been the Switzerland of Africa had Mugabe not gone fucking insane.

[Alamuti Lotus]

11. Certainly one of the more isolated...

which causes many issues in themselves. By virtue of the modern world market, no national economy can exist in a vaccuum; when that vaccuum takes a more or less suffocating form, what can the expected result be?

But yes, I would say Somalia would take the taco for least functional state. Though it would seem that al-Shabaab will be re-disposing of this alleged gov't in due time.

[OKthatsIT]

8. The UN's non-existent 'rescue'

I fear we havent seen anything yet.

[Alamuti Lotus]

10. been hearing this for a while....

Apparently about 12,000,000 people should've died about 10 years ago and every year since, if this very familiar chant from British newspapers is to be believed. Thankfully there is a long history of English benevolence in the area to fall back on. Not to deny that there are issues.
It would seem that things are breaking or broken everywhere; perhaps some new forces are necessary to sweep aside the universally failing? Don't hold your breath, unless that shade of blue matches the khakis.

[OakCliffDem]

12. The Bush Administration sure has this country's priorities screwed up

Billions of dollars for an illegal war in Iraq, hundreds of air planes carrying bombs and wasting gas while we are converting corn and soy beans to fuel to burn in our vehicles.