Zimbabwe: price edict changes eating habits

Harare / ZW. (zd) Millions of families facing starvation in Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe embarked on controversial populist political price wars have now turned to small grains such as millet, rapoko and sorghum meal for survival. President Robert Mugabe´s Prize War edict in early July which only him and his military advisory council Joint Operations Council (JOC) claims will improve the lives of people but has instead induced nationwide artificial shortages of basic commodities. The country´s official retail sector has been hard hit by shortages of basics like the staple maize meal, cooking oil, bread, meat, sugar, flour and soap among a host of other things since the edict was proclaimed by the junta regime in Zimbabwe. The same products are however in plentiful supply on the Black market where the prices are exorbitant. ZimDaily investigations over the past weeks in various Harare suburbs have revealed that millions of people have turned to eating locally available traditional foods as a substitute for the scarce staple maize meal that can only be found on the black market. Shunned and forgotten traditional food prepared from Millet (mhunga/inyawuthi), sorghum (mapfunde/amabele) and rapoko (zviyo/uphoko) small grains meal have suddenly become prime dishes the hungry and desperate families have to endure. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that over six million Zimbabweans are in urgent need of food assistance. Wipipedia assumes that Zimbabwe counted approximately 13 million inhabitants in 2005.