The World Food programme (WFP) is committed to end global hunger through working with governments and organizations to tackle underlying causes of hunger, WFP country representative has said.
By Lovejoy Mutongwiza
Speaking during a WFP presentation on Achieving Zero Hunger in Zimbabwe, Country Director, Eddie Rowe, said the organization seeks to end hunger in line with the Sustainable development goal number two which seeks to eradicate hunger globally by 2030.
“Sustainable development goal number 2 seeks to end, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
“It acknowledges that eradicating hunger means ensuring access to nutritious food for the most vulnerable, increasing agricultural production through sustainable and resilient food systems and tackling the multi-dimensional causes of malnutrition.
“That is the reason why we are undertaking this initiative to partner with the government of Zimbabwe in trying to bring hunger to zero by the year 2030”
Rowe also said poverty reduction through inclusive economic growth is key to eliminating hunger and malnutrition. He called on the government to allocate additional resources to investments that improve the food and nutrition security of the poorest.
However, he warned that, like the Millennium Development Goals, which Zimbabwe failed to meet, the country runs the risk of failing once again to meet the SDGs due to the swelling numbers of people in need of food aid.
“Zimbabwe is at the risk of missing out on this SGD number2 due to the ever increasing number of people requiring food aid. And with the effects of El Nino still persisting, it becomes increasingly difficult for the country to meet this goal. However, with sustained efforts from both the private players and the government, the goal is still achievable,” said Rowe.
With more than 2 million people in all 60 districts in need of food aid, WFP country reprsenative says it caters for all people regardless of their political affiliations. Rowe said they have put in place measures that guard against partisan distribution of food aid.
“We have a register that we use and the government provides us with their own so that there is equitable distribution of food. Our main priority are the children and pregnant women. We hope this system is enough to guard against politicization of food programs.”
Zimbabwe is one the worst affected countries by the El Nino which hit the Sub Saharan region. Crop yield was very poor mostly in the southern parts of the country. Most crops were written off during the mid-farming season forcing President Robert Mugabe to declare a state of emergence on food crisis.
