UN food agency commits more than $250m to help end hunger in Zimbabwe
Harare — On Monday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) pledged $253m to fund a five-year plan to end hunger in Zimbabwe, which is emerging from a devastating drought that left more than 4-million people in need of food aid in 2016. An El-Nino-induced drought scorched crops and killed livestock in the Southern African nation, forcing the government to launch an emergency appeal for food from donors. On Monday, the WFP representative in Zimbabwe, Eddie Rowe said the agency would move away from short-term food handouts to technical assistance to improve food security in the country. "While maintaining strong humanitarian assistance, the WFP Zimbabwe’s new country strategic plan focuses on supporting longer-term national social protection and resilience efforts, strengthening the systems and institutions needed to help achieve zero hunger," Rowe told reporters. Rowe said the WFP planned to spend $53m of the $253m budget in 2017. The WFP says recurrent climate-related disasters, poverty, ...
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