Zimbabwe is on the brink of man-made starvation, a United Nations official has warned.

More than 60% of the country’s 14 million people are considered food-insecure, according to the findings.

Hyperinflation, poverty, natural disasters and economic sanctions were among the identified causes. Women and children were “bearing the brunt of the crisis” with 90% of children aged six months to two years not consuming enough food.

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Hilal Elver, the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, reported her findings following an 11-day visit to the country. “I cannot stress enough the urgency of the situation in Zimbabwe,” she said, adding that the crisis continues to worsen.

She said many of the people she met could only afford one meal a day and that most of the children she met were stunted and underweight. “The harrowing stories I heard from resilient grandmothers, mothers or aunts desperately trying to save their children from starvation, in the midst of their daily hardships, will remain with me.”

Chronic malnutrition is endemic throughout the country, in rural and urban areas. Droughts and erratic weather has hurt agricultural production, while rampant inflation has exacerbated the problems. Ms Elver said the Zimbabweans she spoke to “explained that even if food is generally available in supermarkets, the erosion of their incomes combined with an inflation skyrocketing to more than 490%, made them food insecure”.