| Didn't see this one coming, didja. |
Around 2.1 million people in the country's southern provinces will face serious food shortages by the third quarter of 2007, and the number will reach 4.1 million of the country's 12 million population in the first three months of 2008, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program said. About 352,000 tons of cereals and 90,000 tons of other food aid will be needed, the Rome-based agencies said in a joint statement.
While drought has affected other countries, Zimbabwe's poor harvest is being "exacerbated by the country's unprecedented economic decline, extremely high unemployment and the impact of HIV/AIDS," said Amir Abdulla, WFP's regional director for southern Africa.