Food Security: The following section demonstrates that the Government is taking food security seriously but that there are still major problems that need to be addressed in terms of planning, agricultural inputs, and the non-performance of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). The Prime Minister conducted a three province tour to assess the humanitarian situation in the country. During this tour it was noted that crops had wilted, irrigation systems were down and there was no electricity for those few irrigation systems struggling to work. There are some places where farmers did not even plant because either they had no rains or they had no seed. ”The situation’s bad. The food security situation in this country is a very critical issue,” Prime Minister Tsvangirai added. Secretary to the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ian Makone, several MPs from the local government, and Provincial Governor and Resident Minister for Masvingo, Titus Maluleke, all accompanied the Prime Minister throughout the tour of his province. In the three provinces he visited, Prime Minister Tsvangirai discovered how the lack of proper planning for the agricultural season affects yields. He was told that farmers received inputs and fertilizers very late with some organisations still distributing inputs. Sparse rains were received in some parts of the country. “We did not get seed and fertilizer so we had to use what we gathered last year as seed. We literally took seed from our barns that is why it did not do well. The other problem was fertilizer,” said Simon Majuta, a farmer from Mutimutema, Gokwe North. The Prime Minister has also promised to look into the irregularities at the GMB where he was quoted as saying “We have already resolved that GMB must be investigated. We want an audit because there’s so much corruption at GMB.” The Head of Government said that they would ensure timely preparations for the 2010/2011 agricultural season and ensure that inputs were available closer to the people. “The Government must ensure that no one will starve. We have to mobilize resources and enough food a drought mitigation plan. We should prepare on time so that we do not repeat the same mistake,” Prime Minister Tsvangirai said. Prisons: The Zimbabwe Prison Services has banned food hand-outs from inmates’ relatives at Chikurubi Maximum Prison, in an attempt to curb trafficking by prison officers. This has raised fears that the prison, which recorded the highest prison mortality in 2008, might once again experience the same thing, as the government is not yet capable of feeding the crowded prisons. This has a great impact on more than 1800 inmates who mostly rely on food brought in by their relatives. At the moment the prison is not able to provide even a single meal, and is relying on the Red Cross and other donors for food to feed the inmates. Over 720 male prisoners in between May 2008 and June 2009 succumbed to severe hunger and treatable diseases at Harare’s Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. The situation at that time was so dire that the Inclusive Government had to appeal to charity organisations to come to the rescue of the prisoners with food aid, clothing and drugs to prevent mass deaths at the country’s largest jail. At least 721 prisoners died from diseases linked to serious food shortages such as pellagra, a deficiency disease caused by a lack of vitamin B3 and proteins. CIVIL SOCIETY MONITORING MECHANISM (CISOMM) SIX MONTH SHADOW REPORT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE INCLUSIVE OF ZIMBABWE 24