HARARE, May 3 (Xinhua) -- More than 7 million Zimbabweans require food aid following an El Nino-induced drought this year, a senior government official has said.

"After our assessment, about six million (Zimbabweans) in communal areas and 1.7 million in urban areas need food aid. So as the government, we need to intervene and ensure that all these people are food secure," Obert Jiri, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, was quoted as saying by the state-run Herald newspaper on Friday.

Jiri said in an interview with the newspaper that the government wants the private sector to step up imports to augment local supplies.

This week, a cabinet minister revealed that Zimbabwe needs to import about 1.1 million tonnes of grain to cater to the food-insecure people until March next year.

In April, President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a state of disaster, saying the country requires over two billion U.S. dollars to respond to the drought. Enditem

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