East African countries may be inundated with heavy rain, but Zimbabwe is reeling under one of the worst droughts in its history. The government and humanitarian agencies have been left struggling to find ways to avert a hunger crisis.

The unprecedented El Nino induced drought has ravaged crops and claimed over 20,000 livestock in Zimbabwe. And that's not good news for the government - the current crop production output will not meet the monthly requirement of 125,000 metric tonnes.

The number of affected people needing food aid has also increased from 1.5 million to 1.8 million. Humanitarian agencies now plan to scale up operations and are reviewing their support to map out the immediate needs of the most vulnerable population.

"We identified about USD 132 million to address the needs, in terms of food, in terms of water, sanitation, health and nutrition issues. I'm glad to say that as the UN system with support from development partners reached close to a million people in responding immediately to the various needs in the most needy areas," said UN resident coordinator Bishow Parajuli.

Critical to the food security response is the need to build resilience. This will be done through food for work programmes aimed at rehabilitating community assets like dams and dip tanks that will serve as safety nets.

"We also want to prepare communities so that they develop that resistance, that resilience to ensure that when these shocks do happen these people can quickly recover and regain their livelihoods so we are embarking on a number of initiatives," said WFP Country Director Eddie Rowe.

The numbers at risk of severe malnutrition keep rising, leaving the government and other development partners with much to do.

"As of late we have had a some people being admitted, some children being admitted because of malnutrition a case that was not existing especially when there is no drought," said Richard Gayi, primary care counselor of Gachegache Rural Health Center.


As more resources continue to be channelled towards food assistance in the most vulnerable communities, the woes of climate change may be far from over. Scientists say that with a year of El Nino follows another year of La Nina, meaning that Zimbabwe will not be out of the woods within the next 12 months.