US Increases Food Aid to Starving Zimbabwe

US Increases Food Aid to Starving Zimbabwe The Daily News (Harare)

March 1, 2003 Posted to the web March 1, 2003

WHILE President Mugabe has told the United States to go to hell, the US government continues to feed Zimbabweans.

A US official said in a statement that the US government had contributed about 217 000 tonnes of food assistance to Zimbabwe valued at US$111,6 million ($6,138 billion) from March 2002 to date.

Zimbabwe is facing severe food shortages due to a reduction in plantings in the commercial farming sector caused by the chaotic land reform programme.

Drought in the past two years, has also contributed to the food crisis with now more than seven million people facing starvation.

The government has failed to import enough food through its Grain Marketing Board because of a foreign currency shortage caused by poor governance.

This food assistance has been provided by the US Agency for International Development through the Office of Food for Peace, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and the US Department of Agriculture which have contributed $106 million, $1 million and $5 million respectively.

The assistance has been provided through the World Food Programme (WFP), World Vision (WV), Catholic Relief Services and through a non-governmental organisation consortium of WV, Corporate for Assistance and Relief Everywhere and the Consortium for Southern African Famine Emergency (C-SAFE)

The official said the US government had so far contributed a total of 157 196 tonnes of food assistance to WFP in response to the emergency appeals. This assistance is valued at about $79,3 million.

'The US government assistance amounts to approximately 43,4 percent of total contributions to WFP's two appeals,' the US official said WFP, through its implementing partners, is currently operating in 49 of the country's 57 districts.

The C-SAFE programme is a regional food assistance project to Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.

Poor rains have also ravaged other southern African countries. The Zimbabwe C-SAFE programme, which began in during January 2003, targets 664,746 beneficiaries in seven districts. To date, 40 100 tonnes of food commodities, valued at US$20, 050 million ($1, 1 billion), has been allocated to Zimbabwe under C-SAFE.

The US official said the C-SAFE programme for Zimbabwe was expected to provide a total of 94 840 tonnes of food commodities worth US$47, 4 million ($2,6 billion).

The U.S. never lets mere politics come in front of profits, especially on food surpluses that are banned from human consumption in the U.S. due to contamination.

It is a bit of a misnomer to call this 'food aid'. The programs make U.S. surpluse food available at extortionist prices to desperate and needy countries with the loans for the food tied to buying the U.S. supplies. It would be more correct to call it food extortion.

There are plenty of supplies of wholesome grains in other countries. Only the control over the loans to buy the supplies gives the U.S. the power to force purchase of contaminated stocks for high price, inflating the profits of the GM growers that had to buy back the contaminated supplies in the U.S.

'Food is power. We use it to change behavior. Some may call that bribery. We do not apologize' - Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food

The government of Zimbabwe is clueless, racist, and deadly. If they had enough money to buy weapons, they would probably join the 'axis of evil.'

Be as cynical as you wish but the US is giving food to a starving country despite the atrocities.

Can't we, at least in this case, see that the 'underdog' (Zimbabwe) can be evil and the United States can be a good global citizen ?

If Zimbabwe had a clue, they could grow their own food. With modest reforms, they could make a few bucks and buy whatever food they wanted from whomever.

Blaming the US and/or genetically modified foods and/or the World Bank for Zimbabwe's problems is not even worth discussing.

The famine is man-made....

It is made by the morons of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is starving, along with much of Sub-Saharan Africa, because the black leaders of Zimbabwe have dispossessed the white farmers, proving that people would sooner be governed by incompetent people of their own race than endure the humiliation of people of another race managing affairs more successfully.

White liberals in the West have encouraged black people in Africa to overthrow their white overlords, but without white people's talents the blacks are now starving. So the starvation is actually partially attributable to white lefty/liberals. No-one would be starving in Zimbabwe if the whites were still controlling the farms, would they? Admit it!!!

So for once the problems of blacks is really down to whitey, but not the die hard racist whites of Africa in places like Zimbabwe, but the white liberals in the West, who live in fantasy land concerning what people of various races can and cannot achieve.

Are you able to sleep well at night, St John, in the knowledge that people like you are to some extent to blame for the famine in Africa. It would never had happened if the whites were still in charge of the

Actually part of the problem is World Bank forced 'reforms' of the countries politics and economics. In the light of the meddling by America on the basis of their 'ideology' and agenda to force open African Markets, it is no wonder that African politics has been descending into chaos.

Obviously this anonymous troll wants to pick the 'worst case' of such political chaos and blame it on Africans. The fact is that there are many other countries involved. For example, Malawi which was FORCED to sell of grain surpluses that could have seen them through this drought nad THEN being forced to buy contaminated grain from America to replace it under extortionist loan conditons.

You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. Get used to it and stop WHINING.

Oh, the World Bank again...and the evil US.

Face it...the moron racists of Zimbabwe are to blame.

Threaten to kill all the farmers...run out of food...

Duhhh !!

Ian's brain is a big hard drive loaded with a gazillion bits of information but he can't seem to add 2 + 2.