BBC NEWS
Zimbabwe 'running out of wheat'
Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, Zimbabwe's main milling organisation has said.

The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%.

Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000.

The government is reported to have put its security forces on alert in case the discontent leads to protests.

David Govere, deputy chairman of the Millers Association, told AFP news agency the scarcity of wheat has meant a reduction in supplies to bakeries.

It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime Arthur Mutambara Movement for Democratic Change

"Due to depleted stocks, GMB [state-run food distributor Grain Marketing Board] is now giving us 400 tons of wheat a week, down from 600 tons," he is quoted as saying.

Shortages of wheat could force bakers to import flour from South Africa, which could lead to more price rises.

A loaf of bread in Zimbabwe currently costs $66,000 Zimbabwean (66 US cents), having risen 30% in just one week.

President Mugabe denies that his land reform programme has contributed to the crisis, blaming the effects of drought instead.

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the situation is becoming unbearable.

"It's terrible right now because of shortages," Arthur Mutambara, leader of one of two factions of the MDC.

"Fuel is not available, commodities are unaffordable, unemployment 80%, inflation above 600%.

"It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime."

Food aid

Zimbabwe's leading millers - National Foods, Blue Ribbon and Victoria Foods - have shut production at most of their mills because of the wheat shortage, according to AFP.

International aid agencies say about 4.3m out of Zimbabwe's 13m people will require food aid until the next harvest in May.

The country has suffered increasing food shortages, rising unemployment and runaway inflation since the government began redistributing seized white-owned farms six years ago.

Economists say the rate of inflation could reach 1,000% by April.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4773876.stm

Published: 2006/03/04 12:51:41 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Quoted: BBC NEWS Zimbabwe 'running out of wheat' Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, Zimbabwe's main milling organisation has said. The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%. Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000. The government is reported to have put its security forces on alert in case the discontent leads to protests. David Govere, deputy chairman of the Millers Association, told AFP news agency the scarcity of wheat has meant a reduction in supplies to bakeries. It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime Arthur Mutambara Movement for Democratic Change "Due to depleted stocks, GMB [state-run food distributor Grain Marketing Board] is now giving us 400 tons of wheat a week, down from 600 tons," he is quoted as saying. Shortages of wheat could force bakers to import flour from South Africa, which could lead to more price rises. A loaf of bread in Zimbabwe currently costs $66,000 Zimbabwean (66 US cents), having risen 30% in just one week. President Mugabe denies that his land reform programme has contributed to the crisis, blaming the effects of drought instead. Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the situation is becoming unbearable. "It's terrible right now because of shortages," Arthur Mutambara, leader of one of two factions of the MDC. "Fuel is not available, commodities are unaffordable, unemployment 80%, inflation above 600%. "It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime." Food aid Zimbabwe's leading millers - National Foods, Blue Ribbon and Victoria Foods - have shut production at most of their mills because of the wheat shortage, according to AFP. International aid agencies say about 4.3m out of Zimbabwe's 13m people will require food aid until the next harvest in May. The country has suffered increasing food shortages, rising unemployment and runaway inflation since the government began redistributing seized white-owned farms six years ago. Economists say the rate of inflation could reach 1,000% by April. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4773876.stm Published: 2006/03/04 12:51:41 GMT © BBC MMVI

Sad very Sad

Damn.

Kill the Farmers = No Food..........Who'd have guessed?

Where's bono

At least they're not being oppressed by white rulers...

Mugabe and his brand of stalinism need to go.

Like so many other African nations, Zimbabwe will see an end to corrupt, despotic governments only after its citizens stop tolerating them.

I wonder where is CALPIRG, the Andrew Youngs, the liberal USA news media who fought so hard to bring this despot to power.  I remember when CALPRIG put on great pressure on USA-based companies to divest themselves of companies that had interests in Zimbabwe, such as Shell Oil etc.  Maybe CALPIRG can loan them some money to buy food.

Quoted: Damn. Kill the Farmers = No Food..........Who'd have guessed?

Funny how that works.

Send in Ray Nagin.

OH THE DRAMA!

ITS BECAUSE PRESIDENT BUSH BLEW UP THE LEVEES, HE HATES BLACK PEOPLE AND...

Oops, sorry. Wrong rant.

Carry on.

Quoted: Like so many other African nations, Zimbabwe will see an end to corrupt, despotic governments only after its citizens stop tolerating them.

They have no means to resist.  The only arms are in the hands of the Lords of War.

The people of those countries are just cannon fodder for each fighting faction

Quoted: The people of those countries are just cannon fodder for each fighting faction

A good many of them are the fighting factions.

Hold on....let me pluck a nose hair so's I can shed a tear about this.

Big surprise

Their currency is only worth 1/1000 of a cent?

Robert Mugabe doesn't care about black people!

They will begin eatting each other soon.

thank goodness the man is'nt holding them down

President Mugabe denies that his land reform programme has contributed to the crisis, blaming the effects of drought instead.

Surprise, the fields don't water themselves.

Quoted: What percentage of seized farmland is lying fallow? Has anyone seen any statistics?

"More than 20 million acres of arable land have been expropriated from about 4,000 experienced white farmers and given to people close to Mugabe, many of whom know nothing about farming, the BBC said.

About 90 percent of that land is now fallow and the infrastructure is destroyed."

From "Breadbasket of Africa" to this. No surprise there.

Quoted: From "Breadbasket of Africa" to this. No surprise there.

Quite ironic that this is happening in the country that was once 'Rhodesia'....

Back to the bush...

Uh,reap what you sow?

What they should do is not help them.  When the UN and the AIDE services fly in wheat and food it only prolongs the suffering.

Less people ---> Less food required.

Sounds harsh but thats how it goes.

Quoted: Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%. Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000. The government is reported to have put its security forces on alert in case the discontent leads to protests. . . . President Mugabe denies that his land reform programme has contributed to the crisis, blaming the effects of drought instead. . . . Zimbabwe's leading millers - National Foods, Blue Ribbon and Victoria Foods - have shut production at most of their mills because of the wheat shortage, according to AFP. International aid agencies say about 4.3m out of Zimbabwe's 13m people will require food aid until the next harvest in May. . . . Economists say the rate of inflation could reach 1,000% by April.

We have much to learn from Mother Africa.

the un was trying to raise a billion or so last month for the "emergency" there, WE will pay for their mistakes

Quoted: the un was trying to raise a billion or so last month for the "emergency" there, WE will pay for their mistakes

And thats the problem.  So they get some wheat.  It will tide them over till the famine next year?   Let them reap what they have sowed and be done with it.

Quoted: the un was trying to raise a billion or so last month for the "emergency" there, WE will pay for their mistakes

And if there's money involved, somehow Mugabe and some United Nations officials will get their corrupt hands on it.

Maybe they will invite White people back in to solve their problems.

Quoted: Maybe they will invite White people back in to solve their problems.

The Zimbabwe government already tried this year to offer many of the farmers to come back and ressurect the land they used to farm. Obviously the farmers have refused, likely fearing for their lives, but also because they would not have received ownership.

Quoted: A loaf of bread in Zimbabwe currently costs  (66 US cents)....

Ngga plz, a decent loaf of bread cost $3 here, and you dont see us pissn and moaning about it.  How about spend an hour less a day raping and murdering and do some work.  Id gladly pay $5 a loaf of bread if it meant getting rid of all the illegals, in this country.  They should be willing to pay $5 a loaf to get rid of all the white devils.  If they arent, tough shit; dont start something you cant finish.

It's Bush's fault!!!!

Whoa!!!  At first glance I thought the thread title said

Zombies run out of weed

Good thing it was just Zimbabwe and wheat...  that was a close one.

Quoted: Quoted: A loaf of bread in Zimbabwe currently costs  (66 US cents).... Ngga plz, a decent loaf of bread cost $3 here, and you dont see us pissn and moaning about it.  How about spend an hour less a day raping and murdering and do some work.  Id gladly pay $5 a loaf of bread if it meant getting rid of all the illegals, in this country.  They should be willing to pay $5 a loaf to get rid of all the white devils.  If they arent, tough shit; dont start something you cant finish.

You won't have to pay $5 for illegal free bread. A local bakery is completely automated, from the time the trucks drop off the ingredients till the time that they pick up racks of fresh bread, not a single human hand has touched it  The quality of the bread is comparable to the $3 bread and is only ~$1.70

If they hadn't thrown out the people capable of producing their wheat, they wouldn't be in this situation, now would they?

Fuggem.

Quoted: You won't have to pay $5 for illegal free bread. A local bakery is completely automated, from the time the trucks drop off the ingredients till the time that they pick up racks of fresh bread, not a single human hand has touched it  The quality of the bread is comparable to the $3 bread and is only ~$1.70

Thats great and all, but its not about the bread.  They can take the bread with them, on their way home.

Quoted: Quoted: You won't have to pay $5 for illegal free bread. A local bakery is completely automated, from the time the trucks drop off the ingredients till the time that they pick up racks of fresh bread, not a single human hand has touched it  The quality of the bread is comparable to the $3 bread and is only ~$1.70 Thats great and all, but its not about the bread.  They can take the bread with them, on their way home.

My point is that the fallacy of "We can't do without cheap illegal labor" is bs.


ETA
Back to the topic at hand.
Free Rhodesia!

With that kind of drougt, I hope they don't have the Olympic Flame, passing through for the summer games.

Good. Hope they enjoy their socialist shithole. Just don't come around asking me for a handout.

wganz
¶

Gee, who did not see this coming.  This is the sort of thing that pops into my mind when I hear Malcom-X'ers spew crap that we need to give them 1/2 of the country in retribution for slavery.  

Quoted: Gee, who did not see this coming.  This is the sort of thing that pops into my mind when I hear Malcom-X'ers spew crap that we need to give them 1/2 of the country in retribution for slavery.

Uh, they can have half of Zimbabwe.  Maybe we can help them get it.  Wouldn't it be great to get all the malcontents in one place?

Now where did I put that "trying to give a damn" animation?

Quoted: Quoted: Gee, who did not see this coming.  This is the sort of thing that pops into my mind when I hear Malcom-X'ers spew crap that we need to give them 1/2 of the country in retribution for slavery.   Uh, they can have half of Zimbabwe.  Maybe we can help them get it.  Wouldn't it be great to get all the malcontents in one place?

And then MOAB their asses. Or even more entertaining, seal the borders of Zimbobwe TIGHT, give each malcontent a bottle of whiskey, a machete, a hammer with nails, and a week's food. Televise the carnage on Pay Per View, and after 6 weeks, the survivors get a movie deal in Hollywood.

Quoted: Damn. Kill the Farmers = No Food..........Who'd have guessed?

A conclusion so painfully obvious that it takes an Intellectual to ignore it.

Quoted: thank goodness the man is'nt holding them down

Yeah, I'm sure it's just a "cultural difference" between Africa and the rest of the world - kinda brings Liberia to mind, actually...



  - georgestrings