Harare, Zimbabwe – Agnes Tauzeni is held on his dry field. She is the mother of two and expects another. But now, at a time that could otherwise have been joyful, his hopes will be faded like cultures in difficulty in front of her.
Three times, she played on the rains; Three times, the sky betrayed him. His first two plantations failed. The soil was too dry to keep life. Although his third attempt gave some weak shoots, they offered little promise of a significant harvest. The droughts of El Niño disturbed the rains once liberal, leaving the family of Tauzeni and many love his to eat.
“I’m always hungry,” says Tauzeni.
She is concerned about the health of her unborn child, depending on the little nutrition she consumes.
Adding to that, food aid, previously funded by the American agency for international development, suddenly stopped in January. This transformed what was already a fight in a desperate battle for survival.
Food aid ended when US President Donald Trump, on his first day in the mandate, issued An executive decree This has interrupted almost all American foreign aid, most of which were administered by USAID. This agency is now almost disappeared.
Food aid in Zimbabwe was a continuous financing area for USAID. In November 2024, the agency announced $ 130 million for two seven -year programsImplemented by the care and cultivation of new borders in agriculture, which would provide the largest food aid and other related support to the Zimbabwe regions most in need. The programs, which ceased, were only part of a list of current activities designed to help the most necessary people in Zimbabwe.
About 7.6 million people in Zimbabwe – Almost half of the country’s population – need humanitarian aid, according to a UNICEF report in 2025. Among these, nearly 6 million, like Tauzeni, depend on subsistence agriculture.
Thanks to the support of organizations with funding from USAID, people have already received cereals, edible seeds, oil vouchers and food.
“A sudden withdrawal can put the whole community in a disastrous situation,” said Hilton Mbozi, an expert in seed systems and climate change.
Tauzeni remembers that his community received food supplies such as beans, cooking oil and peanut butter to fight malnutrition.
When Tauzeni married in 2017, his fields promised an abundance. His harvests were numerous and his family never lacked food. Now these memories look like whispers from another world. In the past two agricultural seasons, these crops have been devastating.
With an empty attic and a decrease in options, Tauzeni’s family survives every day on the same food: Baobab Porridge in the morning and Sadza with a wild Gombo in the evening. But Tauzeni is concerned about whether it will be on the table in the coming months.
“The little corn I have, I had after weeding someone else’s harvests, but that will not take us far,” she said.
Tauzeni says that a bag of 20 kilograms corn (44 pounds) costs US $ 13 in her village, an upright for her. Its only source of income is agriculture. When it fails, she has no money at all.
Hunger like Tauzeni’s experiences is widespread. Some families now eat once a day.
Chef David Musau, chief of the village of Musau, where Tauzeni lives, says that some people in his village have not planted seeds this season, fearing losses due to low precipitation. The government provides food aid incoherently, generally 7 kilograms (15 pounds) of wheat per person for three months.
“It’s not enough, but it helps,” he says.
But without any other food aid, survival is at stake, he said. “People will die in the near future.”