Food aid is almost unavoidable in political discussions in several African countries.

Zimbabwe was once the breadbasket of South Africa. On the other hand, over the past two decades agriculture harvests have suffered. The battle for food due to the devastating tropical cyclone Idai, drought, and the high inflation rate is high. This is an unfriendly attack on the Zimbabweans in 2019.

Recently, World Food Programme (WFP) estimates 5 million people are in need of aid. This is a third of the 16 million population. Most importantly, at least half of them are on the cusp of “starvation.”

WFP’s head David Beasley is requesting $331 million for food aid. He said, “We are talking about people who truly are marching towards starvation if we are not here to help them.”

Victims in need of food aid

For the Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Rwandese, DRCongolese, and Somalian refugees at Tongogara and Chipinge camp, the challenges are enormous.

According to UNHCR’s country representative Robert Tibagwa, there were 20,000 Zimbabwean refugees in Harare. 80 metric tons of goods were donations to the government.

Anadolu Agency reports water and sanitation infrastructures are affected. It includes flooded latrines and filled boreholes. This has resulted in the contamination of the drinking water supply. This led to further displacement of over 90,000 people from nine districts to the eastern part of the nation; more than 200 dead and about 300 missings, leaving 250,000 people greatly affected.

The Command Agriculture is a government-funded scheme. Its goal is to ensure food self-sufficiency. Billions of American dollars have been invested, yet it appears to be a sham now. What happened to the management of huge projects like this? The shaky Zimbabwean government after Robert Mugabe doesn’t have answers.

Zimbabwe’s Treasury chief Mthuli Ncube proudly announced the government has provided grain to 757,000 homes. It was in both urban and rural areas this year. The dilemma concerning food is still an unresolved puzzle.

How is the food crisis affecting education?

There is no doubt, that peace on an empty stomach may be a cliché. This is worst because the food crisis and hiked school fees have caused 7,000 children to drop out of school. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education confirmed more than 13,000 primary and secondary school students have abandoned their schools since 2017. “School fees for my daughter shot up from 120 Zimbabwean dollars [$0.37] to 430 Zimbabwean dollars [$1.34] in June this year. We first thought of a device meant to raise it. But then rising food prices awaited us. I had to feed family,” said an emotional Edmund Hove concerning his daughter Thandi Hove.

Melisa Hungwe, a women’s rights activist said, “What lies next for a girl after dropping out of school is certainly an unplanned marriage or becoming a mother.”

According to Jenni Williams, from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), an NGO, over 80 percent of the school dropouts are girls. But the country’s Education Ministry has reported that 52% of secondary school dropouts are females. That includes 40% of female dropouts in primary schools.

It is pathetic that many parents have to choose between educating their children or sleeping with a full stomach.

Recommendation

In conclusion, joining voices with Africa News, “This idea of depending on aid is not how to build a country, why should we be relying on aid when we have got all the resources.”

The government must devise and implement new sustainable food and economic resource management strategies. This can be by instituting alternative farming techniques in other regions of the country. Economically, all corrupt officials and embezzlers should have sanctions.

The original article is on the Organisation for World Peace.

More on refugee rights here.