In hungry Zimbabwe, pet food as a priority

The shift away from making food for humans— or for pigs, chickens and other animals that humans might eat— is just one of the more striking distortions in an economy ravaged by Government price controls, hyperinflation and a food crisis.

The World Food Programme estimates that 4.1 million Zimbabweans, about one-third of the population, will need food aid this year.

Goremusandu is struggling to raise five grandchildren and one great-grandchild on her monthly salary of 1.8 million Zimbabwean dollars for part-time cleaning work — worth about 30 cents in US currency at black-market rates.

The finely ground cornmeal used in sadza, the boiled white mush that is the nation’s staple food, costs 12 million Zimbabwean dollars for an 11-pound bag.

“People are hungry,”said Goremusandu, a widow with deep-set eyes and large, calloused hands.”

“They should not be prioritising making dog food when people are hungry.”

Zimbabwe was long regarded as the breadbasket of southern Africa, exporting corn, tobacco and other agricultural products to a hungry region. But the industry was dominated by the country’s small minority of whites, who controlled most of the prime land until 2000.