Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe conceded that shortcomings in his land reform program contributed to critical food shortages as his party wrapped up its annual conference.
Poor planning, corruption, lawlessness, vandalism, crumbling infrastructure and shortages of fertilizer and seed have compounded the effects of recurring drought, Mugabe told about 3,000 delegates of his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front gathered in the western Zimbabwe town of Esigodini.
"All this translates into low production and food insecurity," Mugabe said on Saturday in a speech on state-run television.
Mugabe's party, which has governed since independence from Britain in 1980, strengthened its grip on power with a sweeping victory in Senate elections last month that left its main opposition deeply divided.
But party chairman John Nkomo conceded on Friday the country's economic crisis threatened to unravel the political gains.
Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy collapsed under the pressure of years of erratic rains and the often violent seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks.
The UN World Food Program expects to feed some 3 million people next month in what was once a regional breadbasket.
Mugabe said the delegates reaffirmed the need for "upright leadership."
"We still have people in need of land. We have to stop vandalization on farms. All irrigation badly needs to be rehabilitated," he said.
The party also overwhelmingly supported Mugabe's criticism of a UN envoy who said humanitarian conditions in Zimbabwe were nearing "meltdown," according to spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira.
Mugabe on Friday called UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland a hypocrite and a liar.
Shamuyarira said delegates regretted Egeland's "failure to stick to the truth" after a three-day fact-finding mission this week, and accused the UN of exaggerating the country's need for humanitarian assistance.
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