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FOOD SHORTAGES IN ZAMBIA:
THE FACTS
Some 2.3 million people need emergency
food aid in Zambia after erratic rains and prolonged dry spells.
WFP, currently feeding 1.3 million people, will expand its activities
as part of a regional emergency operation which will be launched in
July.
AGRICULTURAL CRISIS
- Prolonged dry spells in five of the
nine provinces of Zambia sharply reduced yields and cereal production.
- About 2.3 million people are estimated
to need emergency food aid (equivalent to 174,383 metric tonnes),
due to the second consecutive year of reduced harvest,
while commercial imports are estimated at 352,000 tonnes.
- Unless food assistance arrives, the coming
months will be very critical for large numbers of low-income
households.
Cumulative shocks have exhausted coping mechanisms.
- The Southern Province is the worst affected,
with an estimated 60 percent of the people needing relief food.
- Eastern, Western, Lusaka and Central Provinces
were also badly affected.
- Emergency supply of seeds and hand tools
to drought affected farming families is urgently required.
- In 2001, excessive rains caused floods
which destroyed large areas of crops. The Eastern and Southern
provinces were the most affected and maize production dropped
by 24 percent.
- This year, large parts of the same provinces
were hit by erratic rains and long dry spells at a crucial
growing stage, exacerbating an already precarious situation.
- Large rainfall deficits of up to 50 percent
occurred in some parts of affected provinces, particularly
during the critical months of Jan-March.
- As a result, crops wilted. This year was
an even worse year than previous poor year.
- The GOK has committed about US$ 12 million
to import 50,000 tonnes of maize.
- Zambia has abundant agricultural and mineral
resources. Agriculture's contribution to GNP is increasing due
to decline in the export earnings of the mining sector in the
1990s.
- Zambia depends on copper and cobalt for
foreign exchange earnings. Anglo American has announced that
they intend to close down, which will also reduce labor opportunities
for a substantial proportion of the population.
In
Southern Province, many families are reported to be collecting,
selling and eating wild foods and reducing meals
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| FAO/WFP
crop and food supply assessment mission, May 2002 |
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The new Minister of Agriculture has created
a Crop Marketing Authority (CMA) replacing the Food Reserve Agency
(FRA) and has
pledged to provide sufficient funding to maintain strategic
food reserves, and
to stabilize market prices.
- With the importance of maize declining both
in area and productivity, other crops like cotton and groundnuts
are increasing, as well as relatively drought resistant root crops,
cassava and sweet potato.
- In general, early-planted crops escaped
the effects of the dry spell and produced good results.
| How
is the crisis affecting the people of Zambia? |
- Despite its vast land resources of 75 million hectares,
Zambia suffers from a relatively high incidence of poverty
- According to the UNDP World Development Report, Zambia
is one of the poorest African countries - 63 percent of
people live on US$1 or less per day
- Many people are relying heavily on wild fruits and
vegetable, which in some cases causes diarrohea
- Hunger prompted an increase in theft, and people were
jailed for stealing crops
- Families in Central Province have adopted new coping
strategies like poaching, fishing etc. Migration to
towns has also been increasing in Central and Eastern provinces
- In Southern Province, many families are reported to be
collecting, selling and eating wild foods and reducing
meals, activities which began earlier this season and
have been more intensive than normal
- People living in the valley areas of Lusaka or Western
provinces, or near game reserves in Northern Province, have
had fields destroyed by elephants foraging for food.
Crocodiles have reportedly killed three children
in Western Province
- Illegal poaching of animals has also increased
- In some provinces, children have dropped out of school
due to hunger
- Severe malnourishment in some cases will impair
growth and mental development of children under five
- HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is particularly severe
in Zambia with 20 percent rates, results in very high numbers
of widows and orphans. Nearly every community assessed by
the mission indicated these people to be among the most
vulnerable in the village
- Communities in Lusaka Province (not far from Lusaka) also
indicated a high number of AIDS orphans, which has increased
household size and thus reduced household food security
- HIV/AIDS adversely affects the economy by reducing the
number of active labour force, and increasing the number
of dependent widows and orphans both in rural and urban
areas of Zambia
- Cattle are a major source of draught power for land cultivation
while pigs and poultry are a major source of income and
help households cope in times of hunger
- Corridor disease has destroyed up to 80 percent of
cattle in some areas mainly in southern Province but
also in parts of Eastern and Western provinces
- In parts of Southern Province, farmers have sold or
traded most of their small livestock in order to survive
last year's poor harvest
- Maize prices started to rise as early as July,
indicating a significant shortfall in maize supplies, as
opposed to October/November when prices normally rise -
they were two times, in some cases, three times higher
- Prices declined from March/April with the arrival of the
new maize crop, however they are still well above prices
from the year prior, and from five-year average
- Zambia has one of the lowest population densities in the
region, and thus distances to markets are greater than neighbouring
countries. This, combined with the poor state of roads in
some areas, restricts trade
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| WFP Response |
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WFP is currently feeding
1.3 million people in the worst hit areas of Zambia, an operation
which started last year in response to the combination of drought
and floods which hit the country
This operation will be expanded as part of the regional emergency
operation to be launched in July
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Logistically, parts of
remote Western Province will be some of the most challenging places
in the southern Africa region for WFP to transport relief food |
Hunger timetable:
Zambia |
| Period (2002-2003)
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People in need of
food aid |
| June-Aug 02 |
1,300,000 |
| Sept-Nov 02 |
2,329,000 |
Dec 02-
Mar 03 |
2,329,000 |
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Total
food aid needed:
174,383 metric tonnes |
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