Swazi Media Commentary: International Food Policy Research Institute

Showing posts with label International Food Policy Research Institute. Show all posts

Sunday, 30 November 2014

SWAZIS AMONG HUNGRIEST IN WORLD

Swaziland is the seventh hungriest country in the world, according to a United Nations report.

A total of 35.8 of Swaziland’s 1.3 million population are undernourished, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said.

The report is just one in a long list to draw attention to the plight of ordinary Swazi people. About seven in ten of the population, in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, live in abject poverty, with incomes of less than US$2 a day.

In October 2014, the Office of the Swaziland Deputy Prime Minister Paul Dlamini reported that 223,249 people were estimated to require interventions aimed at maintaining their livelihood and at least 67,592 of the Swazi population required immediate food assistance. This was contained in a report from the kingdom’s Vulnerability Assessment Committee.

Earlier in 2014, the Global Hunger Index report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) revealed the proportion of people who were undernourished more than doubled in Swaziland since 2004-2006 and in 2011-2013 was 35.8 percent of the kingdom’s 1.3 million population or about 455,000 people.

IFPRI reported that since 1990, life expectancy in Swaziland fell by ten years, amounting to only 49 years in 2012.

IFPRI defines undernourishment as an inadequate intake of food - in terms of either quantity or quality.

The latest reports underscore numerous previous surveys demonstrating the state of hunger in the kingdom. While seven in ten of the population live in abject poverty, the King has 14 wives, 13 palaces, a private jet and fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars.

In 2012, three separate reports from the World Economic Forum, United Nations and the Institute for Security Studies all concluded the Swazi Government was largely to blame for the economic recession and subsequent increasing number of Swazis who had to skip meals.

The reports listed low growth levels, government wastefulness and corruption, and lack of democracy and accountability as some of the main reasons for the economic downturn that led to an increasing number of hungry Swazis.

Poverty is so grinding in Swaziland that some people, close to starvation, are forced to eat cow dung in order to fill their stomachs before they can take ARV drugs to treat their HIV status. In 2011, newspapers in Swaziland reported the case of a woman who was forced to take this drastic action. Once the news went global, apologists for King Mswati denounced the report as lies.

In July 2012, Nkululeko Mbhamali, Member of Parliament for Matsanjeni North, said people in the Swaziland lowveld area had died of hunger at Tikhuba.

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

HUNGER INCREASES IN SWAZILAND

More than three in ten people in Swaziland are undernourished, a new report reveals.

And, unlike many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa where hunger has been decreasing, Swaziland is an exception, the Global Hunger Index reveals.

Swaziland suffered the biggest increase in a Global Hunger Index score among any African country between 1990 and 2014.

The report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), defines undernourishment as an inadequate intake of food - in terms of either quantity or quality.

The proportion of people who are undernourished more than doubled in Swaziland since 2004–2006 and in 2011-2013 was 35.8 percent of the kingdom’s 1.3 million population or about 455,000 people.

IFPRI reported that since 1990, life expectancy in Swaziland fell by ten years, amounting to only 49 years in 2012.

IFPRI reported, ‘In Swaziland, the HIV / AIDS epidemic has severely undermined food security along with high income inequality, high unemployment, and consecutive droughts. Swaziland’s adult HIV prevalence in 2012 was estimated at 26.5 percent - the highest in the world.’

The latest report underscores numerous previous surveys demonstrating the state of hunger in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Seven in ten of the population live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 a day. The King has 14 wives, 13 palaces, a private jet and fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars.

In January 2013 the Swaziland Vulnerability Assessment Committee in a report predicted a total of 115,712 people in Swaziland would go hungry in 2013 as the kingdom struggled to feed its population as the economy remained in the doldrums.

The report said problems with the Swazi economy were major factors. The kingdom was too dependent on food imports and because of high price inflation in Swaziland people could not afford to buy food. About seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty, earning less than US$2 a day.

This was not an isolated statement. In 2012, three separate reports from the World Economic Forum, United Nations and the Institute for Security Studies all concluded the Swazi Government was largely to blame for the economic recession and subsequent increasing number of Swazis who had to skip meals.

The reports listed low growth levels, government wastefulness and corruption, and lack of democracy and accountability as some of the main reasons for the economic downturn that led to an increasing number of hungry Swazis.

The Swazi Government was also accused in May 2013 of deliberately withholding food donated from overseas as aid from hungry people as a policy to induce them to become disaffected with their members of parliament and blame them for the political situation in the kingdom. Newspapers in Swaziland and abroad reported the government wanted to punish the kingdom’s MPs for passing a vote of no confidence against it.

It was also revealed that the Swaziland Government had sold maize donated as food aid by Japan for hungry children in the kingdom on the open market and deposited the US$3 million takings in a special bank account.

A report in July 2013 called The Cost of Hunger in Africa, which was prepared by the Government of Swaziland working together with World Food Programme, found that around 270,000 adults in the kingdom, or more than 40 percent of its workers, suffered from stunted growth due to malnutrition. As a result, they were more likely to get sick, do poorly in school, be less productive at work and have shorter lives.

In July 2012, Nkululeko Mbhamali, Member of Parliament for Matsanjeni North, said people in the Swaziland lowveld area had died of hunger at Tikhuba.

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

SWAZILAND HUNGER GETTING WORSE

Swaziland is facing a serious hunger problem and the kingdom’s ability to feed its population is getting worse.

The food crisis is so bad in Swaziland that it has the third worst record in the whole world when it comes to comparing how things were in 1990 to how they are today.

According to the World Hunger Index published yesterday (14 October 2008) by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 22 percent of the population in Swaziland are undernourished; nearly 15 percent of children under five are underweight; and more than 16 percent of children born in Swaziland die before their fifth birthday.

The index measures global hunger by ranking countries on prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.

To put Swaziland in context, the two countries with a worst record than Swaziland are the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and North Korea.

The news confirms what we already know about hunger in Swaziland. Last year about 65 percent of the one million people who live in Swaziland needed food aid from international donors and according to the United Nations Development Programme about four in ten people are moving from hunger towards starvation. About four in ten children are so malnourished that their growth is permanently stunted.

Although Swaziland has suffered drought over the past decade this is not the main reason for hunger. Other drought stricken nations, for example Malawi, have implemented policies to improve irrigation and have introduced new drought resistant crops. This year Malawi was one of the international donors of grain to Swaziland.

The hunger in Swaziland is a result of the betrayal by the kingdom’s leaders. This year about 10 million dollars (E70 million) was squandered on a 40^th birthday party for King Mswati III.

Forbes magazine reported in August 2008 that the King had a wealth estimated at 200 million dollars (E1.4 billion). This was at a time when 70 percent of Swazis earn less than one dollar a day.

We have just had elections in Swaziland where most of the sitting MPs were not reelected. This rejection wasn’t because the Swazi people disliked the policies of the government. The government has no polices and in Swaziland political parties remain banned since 1973 so there is no coherent way of developing policies to solve the crisis. Instead under Swaziland’s ‘unique’ democracy voters can only choose from a list of individuals, turning the election into nothing more than a beauty contest.

MPs once elected have no real powers and all important decisions are made by the King. The Swaziland Senate is not elected with most members appointed by the King.

This lack of democracy leads to inertia in public life and Swaziland is simply left to drift. I doubt that there will be much of a response to this latest appalling report on hunger from the Swazi elite.

But let me sound a word of warning. Swaziland needs the support of the international community or people will starve. With King Mswati’s lavish lifestyle and the oppression of the population (look at the banning this week of a forum organized by civil society as an example) people abroad are asking why they should help Swaziland. With so many other better places for them to send their donor aid we should not be surprised if it does not come to Swaziland.

Mass starvation of the Swazi nation may yet be King Mswati’s legacy to his people.

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