Publication Date February 8, 2016 | Reuters

Surrounded by diamonds, villagers go hungry in drought-hit Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe
In this photo taken Sunday Jan. 29, 2016, Last Zimaniwa feels the broken ground at a spot which is usually a reliable water source that has dried up due to lack of rains in the village of Chivi , Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has declared a state of disaster as the country struggles to deal with a drought afflicting the region. Photo: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, AP
In this photo taken Sunday Jan. 29, 2016, Last Zimaniwa feels the broken ground at a spot which is usually a reliable water source that has dried up due to lack of rains in the village of Chivi , Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has declared a state of disaster as the country struggles to deal with a drought afflicting the region. Photo: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, AP

Though prone to dry spells, the situation in Marange has been exacerbated by the current El Niño weather phenomenon, which has brought drought to large swathes of Zimbabwe.

The government has declared a state of disaster in most rural parts of the country, saying that 2.44 million people - around a quarter of the population - need food aid.