Zim needs additional US$73m aid

HARARE – Zimbabwe needs an extra US$73 million in humanitarian aid this year, mainly due to increased food needs for vulnerable groups despite improvements in the agriculture sector, United Nations agencies have said.

Zimbabwe, once a major regional agricultural producer, has struggled to feed itself since President Robert Mugabe embarked on a campaign in 2000 to seize white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.Nearly 1,7 million Zimbabweans need food assistance this year, UN humanitarian coordinator Alain Noudehou said during a review of the southern African country’s aid appeal.As a result, UN agencies were now appealing for US$488 million in aid to Zimbabwe for 2011, up from an initial US$415 million, he said.’Achievement of the desired food security levels was threatened by a protracted dry spell which affected six out of ten provinces this year,’ Noudehou said.Last week, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Zimbabwe’s production of maize grain would rise to 1,45 million tonnes in the 2010-11 season from 1,32 million tonnes in 2009-10. – Nampa-Reuters