In the second week of May, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that up to 4.5 million people - half of Zimbabwe's drought-stricken rural population - will need aid by March 2017. A few weeks before the UN launched an appeal for $360 million to provide life-saving assistance for more than three million people. The UN Resident Coordinator for Zimbabwe said at the end of May that $70 million has been received, leaving a gap of $290 million.
Meanwhile the country director of the UN World Food Programme, pointed out that Zimbabwe´s 2016 maize production forecast would fall below 60% of the five-year average. Zimbabwe's average harvest in the last five years has been between 700,000 and 1 5 million tonnes, against annual consumption of between 1.6 million and 1.8 million tonnes, he said. An El Nino-induced drought has hit southern Africa and cut the output of the staple maize crop. In March, the government said 4 million Zimbabweans required food aid, almost 30% of the national population.
UN says half of rural Zimbabwe will need food aid by next March
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