Children starve as Zimbabwe's grain goes to make luxury dog food

The Scotsman: Children starve as Zimbabwe's grain goes to make luxury dog food (HT: Presbyweb)

THE state-run grain company in Zimbabwe has turned to making luxury dog food, while up to four million of the country's people starve.

Doggy's Delight is a new product from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the only firm to which farmers are allowed to sell their wheat and maize.

It is supposed to supply millers with grain for flour to make bread. But, in addition to making dog food, the company has announced that it will focus on poultry feeds this year.

Recent figures show Zimbabwe has a 360,000-tonne shortfall of maize – used to make the staple mealie-meal – and a 255,000-tonne wheat shortfall.

That means more than a third of Zimbabweans are likely to need food aid in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections in March, according to aid agencies.

With probably less than ten weeks to go before the polls, there are fears Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party will once again offer food for votes – the government has started secretly importing food from Malawi. ...

Comments

[ZZMike]

The sorry state of Zimbabwe's economy is summed up here:

10 million dollar notes

"The central bank of the southern African country has a issued a 10million Zimbabwe dollar note. The move increases the denomination of the nation's highest bank note more than tenfold.

Even so, a hamburger in an ordinary cafe in Zimbabwe costs 15 million Zimbabwe dollars."

Brings back memories of Germany, 1920s.