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Zimbabwean children walk to primary school Picture: TRF/Marko Phiri

When Thabiso Dube isn�鶹APP�t helping his mother at home, the scrawny eight-year-old is working alongside her, doing odd jobs in exchange for food.

He should be in class but has virtually dropped out of school because he is always hungry, said his mother Sithandile Dube, of Lupane district in Matebeleland North province.

Thabiso only goes to school �鶹APP�if he has the strength,�鶹APP� she says �鶹APP� which can be as little as once a week, usually when there is enough to eat at home.

�鶹APP�We haven�鶹APP�t had enough (food) for a long time. Our crop failed. That�鶹APP�s why now I have to work for other people,�鶹APP� she said.

Over the past five years, Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s two Matebeleland provinces and the country�鶹APP�s Midlands have been suffering from a disastrous mix of erratic rainfall, flash floods and long dry spells.

In a country where 80% of maize �鶹APP� the national staple �鶹APP� comes from the fields of small-scale farmers, the extreme weather has severely depleted stocks of food in many homes �鶹APP� and schoolchildren are bearing the brunt of the shortages, experts say.

In October, Matebeleland North provincial education director Boithatelo Mguni issued a statement saying that up to 6000 children across the province are dropping out of classes because of they are too hungry to attend.

�鶹APP�I ask my pupils why they did not come to school and they reply that it is because there is no food at home,�鶹APP� said George Sithole, a primary school teacher in Lupane. �鶹APP�The situation is grim.�鶹APP�

According to Sithole, the effect of Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s food shortage became clear when schools started in September.

�鶹APP�I have 45 pupils, but these days I would be lucky to have half the class,�鶹APP� he said. �鶹APP�Cases of children fainting in class because of hunger are very common here. It is very traumatising.�鶹APP�

Nurses at one Lupane clinic said they are getting an increase in the number of children losing unhealthy amounts of weight because of lack of food.

A child walks through a drought-hit area of Matabeleland

According to the Commercial Farmers Union, Zimbabwe produced 1.4 million tonnes of maize last year, far short of the 2.1 million the country needs. With Zimbabwe again battling drought, experts predict maize production could dwindle even further.

Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s government and non-governmental organisations have put into action plans to tackle the food shortages, but not all of them are proving effective, experts say.

In September, President Robert Mugabe announced that the government is importing maize and mobilising food aid, promising that no one in the country would die of hunger.

But in a statement on October 9, United Nations resident coordinator Bishow Parajuli said $132 million is still needed to secure food assistance to 1.5 million hungry Zimbabweans.

In Lupane and several drought-hit districts in Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s southwest, children�鶹APP�s charity World Vision International and the UK�鶹APP�s have together launched a scheme that gives families vouchers to redeem for groceries at designated outlets.

�鶹APP�We want children to benefit from this assistance,�鶹APP� said Khumbulani Ndlovu, �鶹APP�s integrated programmes manager.

To ease farmers�鶹APP� reliance on rain to grow their crops, Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s vice president Phelekela Mphoko announced recently that the government aims to try to rebuild Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s largely collapsed irrigation infrastructure.

Zimbabwe also has received a $99 million farm equipment loan from Brazil under the South American country�鶹APP�s More Food for Africa initiative.

However, Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s agriculture minister said farmers will have to pay for the equipment �鶹APP� which includes tractors, planters and fertiliser spreaders �鶹APP� effectively excluding poor rural farmers.

Critics say lack of equipment is not the key problem and the government should focus on finding ways to ease the impacts of Zimbabwe�鶹APP�s increasingly unpredictable climate on families like Dube�鶹APP�s.

�鶹APP�We can only hope for rains so we can plant our own food,�鶹APP� she said.

The is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women�鶹APP�s rights, corruption and climate change.