29 Districts In Tanzania Going Hungry - Fuel , Grain Costs Hurting Relief Delivery Efforts

The food situation in Tanzania remains unsatisfactory, especially in some 29 districts of the country that still need relief food and where the government will shortly be forced to spend billions of shillings on transport and logistics to distribute food.

According to the latest assessment of the Tanzania economy by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) — the country’s central bank — the government and the World Food Programme plan to start distributing 15,622 tonnes of relief food to these districts this month. The amount of food relief provided directly by the government, which is to be distributed to people at subsidised prices, is 7,029 tonnes of maize.

Except for maize, food prices in Tanzania have lately been on an upward curve, reflecting high transportation costs and high fuel prices. Major expenditures will also be incurred in buying cereal for the country’s strategic food reserves.

In October 2006, the strategic grain reserve department purchased 6,618 tonnes of maize and 601 tonnes of sorghum, leading to cumulative purchase of 84,637 tonnes of foodgrains since the exercise started in August 2006. So far, purchases of cereals have surpassed the target of 80,000 tonnes for the 2006/07 season. Thus, by the end of October 2006, strategic stocks stood at 87,461 tonnes.

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http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/news25120617.htm

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One is drought, which is fucking over their agriculture. Agriculture accounts for 85% of Tanzania's economy, and 80% of employment, so when that goes down the toilet the rest of the country will follow.

Secondly there's the cost of fuel - crude is currently $62 per barrel, which is a lot of money when you earn less than a dollar a day (like most Tanzanians). When crops do grow, they can't afford to move them - not without a bail-out, anyway.