On October 9, 2008, WFP appealed for US$140 million for vital relief rations in Zimbabwe for the following six months.11 It estimated a cereal gap for the period April 2008 to March 2009 of 1.2 million tons. The Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM—a joint body of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP) determined that Zimbabwe’s poor main cereal harvest in 2008 was due to a combination of adverse weather conditions, a lack of key agricultural inputs (fertilizer and tractors), crumbling irrigation systems, and disincentives caused by government price controls.12 As a result of severe food shortages, levels of chronic malnutrition among children under age five have increased, so that 28 percent are chronically malnourished.13 Hyper-inflation of over 231 million percent has eroded the capacity of families to access the little food available on the market, an especially acute problem for people living in urban areas with no access to land. Maize remains unavailable in most shops. Where it is available on the black market, it is pegged to the US dollar, pricing it out of reach for the average Zimbabwean household. When Human Rights Watch researchers visited Zimbabwe in November the price of a 20 kilogram bucket of maize meal was US$20, unaffordable for most people.14 Only 6 percent of Zimbabweans are employed in the formal sector15. Teachers, for example, earn an average of US$4 per month.16 Six local and international agriculturalists told Human Rights Watch that the 2008-9 farming season would fail because many farmers were unable to get seed and fertilizers due to disruption in farming during the 2007-8 season. They presented a picture that placed primary responsibility on the Zimbabwe authorities for the increased food insecurity in the country, citing: 11 “Major food appeal for Zimbabwe as WFP relief distributions begin,” World Food Program press release, October 9, 2008, http://www.wfp.org/ENGLISH/?ModuleID=137&Key=2955 (accessed January 10, 2009). 12 FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission to Zimbabwe, Special Report, June 18, 2008. http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai469e/ai469e00.htm (accessed December 2, 2008). 13 “Major food appeal for Zimbabwe as WFP relief distributions begin,” World Food Program press release, October 9, 2008, http://www.wfp.org/ENGLISH/?ModuleID=137&Key=2955 (accessed January 10, 2009). 14 According to humanitarian agencies an average family of four requires a 20kg bucket of maize per month. 15 UN Consolidated Appeal Process for Zimbabwe 2009, http://ochaonline.un.org/AppealsFunding/CAP2009/tabid/5120/language/en-US/Default.aspx (accessed January 12, 2009). 16 Human Rights Watch interview with teacher, Harare, November 18, 2008. 11 Human Rights Watch January 2009