Swazi food crisis pumps up transport demand

MBABANE – The local
transport industry is
gearing up to save lives
by hauling essential
food aid as Swaziland’s
humanitarian crisis
worsens. The World Food
Programme (WFP) said
2007 would be the worst
year on record in terms
of food scarcity. Sporadic
drought conditions that
have hit parts of the
country for a decade
became nationwide and
unrelenting this year,
affecting 80% of the
country's staple food crop,
maize.
WFP and other
humanitarian groups
are already bringing in
replacement maize. About
one quarter of Swaziland’s
approximately one million
population is currently
dependent on some form
of food assistance.
Swaziland Railways
and road haulier Chrisilda
Transport have found
food shipment jobs
increasing in recent years.
The metric tonnage of
food required will be
determined when the
UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) sends
a crop assessment team
from Rome next month
to see how much if any
of this year’s crop can be
salvaged.
Locally, the price of
maize has risen from
R1 250 for one metric
tonne at the beginning of
the year to R2 300 today.
Minister of Agriculture
Mtiti Fakudze said the price
would rise to R3 000 by
winter.