Geneva, 10 July 2000
We have received information from ACT
Tanzania Coordination Committee on Emergencies that some parts of Tanzania
are facing acute food shortages due to the drought experienced during the
last 1999/2000 rainy season. Local media has indicated that nine regions
in the country are facing acute food shortages. The regions have been named
as Arusha, Morogoro, Dodoma, Singida, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Kilimanjaro, Tanga
and Tabora mostly covering the central part of the country which is drought
prone. The office of the Prime Minister has indicated the country has a
food shortage of 680,000 tons.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) in the Arusha region reports that over 500,000 people in the region are affected by the food shortage. This has caused the price of maize to rise from TSH.1300 per 18kg to TSH.2500. Prices for other main food crops such as cassava and sorghum have also gone up by over 50%.
The government is assessing the situation to establish how much food would be required in various parts of the country. It has also started buying food from areas that produced some surplus. However, locally purchased food will clearly not be sufficient to cover the requirements of the food shortage and therefore outside assistance will be required.
Detailed assessments by the ACT members and partners are underway in many of the drought affected districts and an ACT appeal may be forthcoming.
Thank you for your attention.
ACT Web Site address: http://www.act-intl.org
ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response.
The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.