Over half of harvest destroyed due to 'historic' drought in Zimbabwe: UN

United Nations, Aug 8 (IANS) More than half of the harvest in Zimbabwe was destroyed due to a "historic" drought, and some 7.6 million people in the country are now at risk of acute hunger, a UN spokesman has said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the food security situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating rapidly following the historic drought caused by El Nino, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, at a daily briefing on Wednesday.

UN Assistant Secretary-General and Climate Crisis Coordinator Reena Ghelani, and Assistant Executive Director of the World Food Programme Valerie Guarnieri recently concluded a week-long mission to assess the impact of the drought in the southern African country, and they called for more international support for the humanitarian response, Xinhua news agency reported.

Zimbabwean authorities declared a nationwide state of disaster in April, and according to their latest figures, at least 57 per cent of people in rural parts of the country -- some 5.9 million people -- are expected to be food insecure during the peak hunger period between January and March of next year.

The drought has strained Zimbabwe's economy, with more than a fifth of school-aged children now out of school, and has led to critical water shortages, Haq said.

While the United Nations and its partners continue to work with the Zimbabwean government to support response efforts, the $429 million flash appeal launched in May, which aims to assist more than 3 million people, is only about 11 per cent funded, according to the spokesman.

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