Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on the Zimbabwe government to release information on grain availability in the country as part of its obligations to ensure its citizens’ right to food.

“The Zimbabwean government’s lack of transparency on grain availability in the country could jeopardise access to food for millions of Zimbabweans in the coming months, HRW said in a briefing paper.

It called on the government to make the information public immediately saying that by withholding vital information on grain availability, the government was “gambling with its citizens’ access to food”.

The group said that in May the Zimbabwean government announced that this year’s harvest would produce 2,4-million metric tons of maize — significantly more than last year.

Donor countries and non governmental organisations challenged the estimate and a question in Parliament led to the government authorising an investigation.

Based on the estimate, the government decided not to renew its appeal for general international food aid, so the World Food Programme was unable to begin fund raising.

The government has already been accused of politicising the distribution of grain, which by law, has to go through the parastatal Grain Marketing Board.

The group also expressed concern that the process used to register food beneficiaries may still leave out certain highly marginalised groups like households headed by children.

United Nations news service Irin reported that the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee calculated earlier this year that 2,5-million people in rural areas would require food assistance in the 2004/05 marketing season. A similar number of urban poor are likely to be in need of aid. – Sapa

Source: Daily Mail & Guardian
URL: http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=120242/p>