admin | February 23, 2015
Agriculture currently accounts for nearly 20 per cent of Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product, largely because of tobacco exports. More than 80,000 farmers have registered to grow the plant this season.
But last year, the World Food Programme reported that, “… Hunger is at a five-year high in Zimbabwe with one-quarter of the rural population, equivalent to 2.2 million people, estimated to be facing food shortages.”
Paddington Zhanda is Zimbabwe’s deputy Minister of Agriculture. He dismissed the report, saying, “…The numbers are exaggerated. There is no crisis. If there was a crisis, we would have appealed for help as we have in the past. We are in for one of the best harvests we have had in years.”
To read the full article, go to: http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/01/good-harvest-fails-to-dent-rising-hunger-in-zimbabwe/