Mick Hartley

What do you do when your population’s starving? Make dog food for export, of course:

The state-run grain company in Zimbabwe has turned to making luxury dog food, while up to four million of the country’s people starve.

Doggy’s Delight is a new product from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the only firm to which farmers are allowed to sell their wheat and maize.

It is supposed to supply millers with grain for flour to make bread. But, in addition to making dog food, the company has announced that it will focus on poultry feeds this year…

The GMB is delighted with the success of Doggy’s Delight, a pre-cooked, high-protein instant dog meal. “Production of dog food by the GMB is now on full throttle,” said the company nutritionist, William Ndindana.

Five tonnes of Doggy’s Delight are being produced every day, according to reports. But Zimbabwe’s hungry hounds won’t get much of a taste of the new product, which is primarily intended for the export market.

Such exports earn foreign currency – vital for the government, which is grappling with the highest inflation rate in the world at nearly 8,000 per cent.

Shortages of basics following Mr Mugabe’s disastrous price blitz in July and the soaring cost of imported goods mean struggling Zimbabweans are finding it hard enough to feed themselves, let alone their animals. Ten kilos of regular dog biscuits cost about 35 million Zimbabwe dollars (£583 at the official rate of exchange) – more than a teacher’s monthly salary.

The cash squeeze appears to have forced many people to turn household pets out into the streets. Packs of starving dogs now roam residential suburbs…

“This country’s really bad now. It’s on its knees,” said George, a caretaker at a block of flats in a Harare suburb. “No power, no phone, no water. No mealie-meal. We’re starving.”