World Food Programme Says Zimbabwe Needs $293 Million Food Aid

(Bloomberg) --

The World Food Programme has warned that Zimbabwe will need as much as $293 million in aid to tackle a chronic food shortage.

An estimated 2.2 million Zimbabweans living in urban areas are “food insecure” amid a drought, and more than four million people nationally need food aid, Eddie Rowe, the WFP's country director, told reporters in the capital, Harare.

“Households are increasingly failing to access adequate food without external assistance,” Rowe said.

The worst drought in almost four decades and an economic collapse have left Zimbabwe facing a disaster. While Zimbabwe has experienced intermittent food shortages for the last two decades, the problem has mostly been limited to rural areas.

To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Alastair Reed

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