Families skip meals as drought bites

MOST families in rural areas are skipping meals as a coping mechanism as the effects of drought take its toll, global provider of early warning and analysis on acute food insecurity has shown.

Zimbabwe is currently grappling with one of the worst droughts in years and President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country needed over US$2 billion worth of food aid.

“In July, most households continue to employ consumption-based coping measures such as skipping meals, reducing meal portions or prioritising the feeding of children and the ill, which are usually characteristic of the peak of the lean season,” the  Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FewsNet) said.

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