More than 200,000 people in Swaziland / eSwatini which is one in five of
the rural population are experiencing severe food shortages and require urgent
humanitarian assistance, a
report published on Tuesday (2 July 2019) stated.
And, hunger has got worse since last year. There are about 157,000
people in a ‘crisis situation’ and another 47,000 in an ‘emergency situation’.
The
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) snapshot for the period up
to March 2020 stated, ‘In comparison with last year, the situation has
deteriorated.’ It added, ‘This deterioration can be attributed to the
anticipated drought, which led to farmers choosing not to plant their fields,
reducing casual labour opportunities and food availability, with one-fifth of
households depleting their assets or engaging in crisis or emergency coping
strategies to mitigate moderate to large food gaps.
‘Between October 2019 and March 2020, around 232,000 people (25 percent
of the rural population) are estimated that they will likely experience severe
acute food insecurity.’
It stated that even if rains are better in the coming year, it is likely
that ‘households will run out of food stocks before the end of the year’.
IPC is a multi-partner
initiative for improving food security and nutrition analysis and
decision-making. It includes the Swaziland government, Red Cross and World Food
Program.
In a
previous report the World Food Program said it had fallen more than US$9 million short in
its fundraising to help ease the hunger crisis gripping Swaziland. That amounted
to only 47 percent of the US$17.4 million it hoped to raise.
See also
World Food Program falls short in
fundraising as hunger grips Swaziland and King spends lavishly on himself
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