Russian and US support for drought-stricken Zim

While Russia donated 25 000t of wheat and 23 000t of fertiliser to Zimbabwe in March 2024, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged a contribution of R207 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) in Zimbabwe in the same month.

According to USAID, the donation would support approximately 230 000 of the most vulnerable people in districts such as Mwenezi, Mangwe, Chivi and Buhera with critical food assistance after the El Niñoinduced drought had exacerbated food insecurity in the country.

According to a Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee report, 26% of the rural population were affected by the El Niño weather phenomenon, which caused below-normal rainfall and high temperatures, leading to food scarcity. The funding from USAID will complement the governmentled Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy Programme, assisting a total of 2,7 million people across Zimbabwe to mitigate household food insufficiency.

The assistance provided by the WFP included grains, pulses and fortified vegetable oil in an effort to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable people in rural areas. According to Zimbabwe’s

NewsDay, the donated wheat and fertiliser were recently handed over by ambassador of the Russian to Zimbabwe, Nikolai Vladimirovich Krasilnikov, to that country’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Grain Marketing Board depot in Harare.

“We welcome Russia’s continued support in our ongoing efforts to consolidate and strengthen our agriculture sector towards building greater resilience for climate change adaptation and guaranteeing sustained national food security. We, thus, continue to learn from the expertise and best practices from the Russian Federation as we scale up the implementation of our comprehensive Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Programme,” Mnangagwa said at the occasion.

The wheat donation followed the Zimbabwe government’s decision to adopt a wheat-based food security intervention in response to climate change-induced droughts.

Zimbabwe’s wheat production occurs mainly in the country’s northern areas, including Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and East as well Manicaland and the Midlands. The crop is produced under irrigation.

“The past two seasons have seen our country attain great successes in wheat production and productivity, with surplus output in relation to our national wheat requirements,” Mnangagwa added.

He said his government had taken a deliberate policy position to adopt a wheat-based food security intervention in response to climate change-induced droughts. –