President ED Declares State of Disaster
My Fellow Zimbabweans;
The current Agricultural Season of 2023 to 2024 has not performed according to expectations due to the El Niño- induced drought. As a result, more than 80 percent of our country received below normal rainfall. The country had put a total of 1 728 897 hectares under maize crop and other cereals. Ordinarily, this would have guaranteed a bountiful harvest. Further worsening the situation characterised by poor rainfall was the outbreak of Fall Army Worm across the country.
The Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee Report for 2023 revealed that approximately 2.7 million people were expected to be food insecure from April 2023 until end of March 2024. While we have been able, so far, to fend for this food insecure population, the El Niño drought has now compounded our current situation, with food insecurity levels raised beyond the projected 2.7 million.
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