Zimbabwe is on the brink of manmade starvation with close to 60% of the population now food insecure, a UN envoy has said.

Hilal Elver, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said the situation was likely to escalate political instability in the southern African nation. After an 11-day visit to parts of the country worst hit by the El Niño-induced drought, Elver said widespread food insecurity was being exacerbated by hyperinflation.

“The people of Zimbabwe are slowly getting to a point of suffering a manmade starvation,” said Elver.

“More than 60% of the population of a country once seen as the breadbasket of Africa is now considered food insecure, with most households unable to obtain enough food to meet basic needs due to hyperinflation.”

About 5.5 million rural Zimbabweans and a further 2.2 million in urban centres face food insecurity.

“These are shocking figures and the crisis continues to worsen due to poverty and high unemployment, widespread corruption, severe price instabilities, lack of purchasing power, poor agricultural productivity, natural disasters, recurrent droughts and unilateral economic sanctions,” Elver said.

The poor rains experienced in the 2018-19 agricultural season have exacerbated the food crisis as the government battles to provide social services.

Elver said the drought has also affected children’s health, with nearly 90% of Zimbabwean infants experiencing malnutrition and stunted growth.

“Chronic malnutrition and stunting is endemic throughout the country, where 90% of children aged six to 24 months consume the minimal diet to survive. The vast majority of children I met in the rural parts of Masvingo and in Mwenezi, as well as in informal settings in the suburbs of Harare, appeared severely stunted and underweight due to reduced food availability caused by high levels of poverty and the consequence of the recurrent drought and floods,” she said.

A man carries a full bag of donated maize grain in the Mutoko, Zimbabwe. Photograph: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP via Getty Images

“I saw the ravaging effects of malnutrition on infants deprived of breast feeding because of their own mothers’ lack of access to adequate food.”

As a result of the prolonged dry spells and food deficiency, said Elver, women were engaging in dehumanising ways of fending for their families, with some turning to prostitution.

“In a desperate effort to find alternative means of livelihood, some women and children are resorting to coping mechanisms that violate their most fundamental human rights and freedoms. As a result, school dropouts, early marriage, domestic violence, prostitution and sexual exploitation are on the rise throughout Zimbabwe,” said Elver.

She urged the government to take steps to reduce the country’s dependence on imported food, particularly maize, and to support alternative wheats to diversify the diet. The state should ensure Zimbabwe’s self-sufficiency, said Elver.

“I call on the government of Zimbabwe to live up to its zero-hunger commitment without any discrimination,” she said.

Elver added that the crisis in Zimbabwe’s cities had also worsened due to the drought. “I witnessed some of the devastating consequences of the acute economic crisis in the streets of Harare, with people waiting for hours in long lines in front of gas stations, banks, and water dispensaries. The Zimbabweans I spoke to in Harare and its suburbs explained that even if food was widely available in markets, the erosion of their incomes, combined with inflation skyrocketing to over 490%, made them suffer from food insecurity, also impacting the middle-class.”

Zimbabwe’s food insecurity could spiral into a security issue, Elver warned.

“A government official I met in Harare told me: ‘Food security is national security.’ Never has this been truer than in today’s Zimbabwe. As food insecurity and land mismanagement increase the risks of civil unrest, I urgently call on the government, all political parties and the international community to come together to put an end to this spiralling crisis before it morphs into a full-blown conflict,” she said.

In January, Zimbabwe was plunged into a national strike after a steep rise in fuel prices was ordered by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Amid the unrest that followed, several civilians were killed.

Similar protests were repeated in August when the main opposition, MDC took to the streets in protest against spiralling prices and deteriorating economic fortunes. Police reacted by violently dispersing protesters who had gathered in central Harare, injuring many.