NPR Covers Zimbabwe


Nov 25th, 2008 12:51 PM UTC
By Chris Scott

zimbabwe

NPR aired a fantastic piece this morning about the food crisis in Zimbabwe. You can check out the interactive feature at NPR.org, complete with photos and a stunning audio slideshow. Definitely recommended!

Excerpts below, full piece here:

The U.N. says that a little less than half of Zimbabwe’s population — about 5 million people — will need international food assistance by the end of the year, with talk of a full-scale humanitarian emergency. Lee says the World Food Program is feeding 4 million people this month alone, but that stocks will run out by year’s end.

“At the moment, we have no food supplies for distribution in January and February, just when the crisis is reaching its peak,” Lee says. “So we can get to enough people in Zimbabwe, we can provide them with sufficient assistance, but we need additional resources, and we need those additional resources now.”

President Robert Mugabe’s critics blame his land reform and redistribution policies for triggering the current food crisis and economic meltdown. Productive white-owned commercial farms in this region used to be part of the Zimbabwean miracle — the regional grain basket — until they were occupied by Mugabe allies, and many farmers and workers were driven from their lands.

-Chris Scott

TAGS: Agriculture, Mugabe, Policy News, World Food Crisis, World Food Program, Zimbabwe

  1. grace penneysays: Nov 25th, 2008 9:36 PM EST

    November 25, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Contrary to the ‘Gordon Gekko’ followers, greed is not good. Greed is destroying humanity.
    It has got to become socially unacceptable to amass wealth without philanthropy.
    Yes, we are our brothers keepers and we all need to give and give generously.

  2. nokiasays: Feb 26th, 2009 2:36 PM EST

    February 26, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    Contrary to the ‘Gordon Gekko’ followers, greed is not good. Greed is destroying humanity.
    It has got to become socially unacceptable to amass wealth without philanthropy.
    Yes, we are our brothers keepers and we all need to give and give generously.

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