HARARE , Zimbabwe -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Zimbabwe urgently needs to form a new government in order to address a food crisis in the nation and prevent starvation , newly designated Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters Saturday . At least 80 percent of the population of Zimbabwe are living below the poverty line . Tsvangirai , leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change , said there was a `` deepening food insecurity '' in the country . `` We need to respond to this crisis with utmost urgency , '' he said . `` It is therefore imperative that a government be formed in the next few days and begins to implement plans to insure that our people have food and do not die of starvation . '' Zimbabwe industries are operating at about 10 percent of capacity , and the food and manufacturing industry will not be able to deliver sufficient food supplies to markets . Tsvangirai signed a power sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe on September 15 but the two have not yet agreed on the distribution of Cabinet posts . Earlier this week , Mugabe told the press that only four posts were still to be agreed on . But Tsvangirai said in response , `` I think to minimize the remaining issues to only four issues , it is to underplay the whole process . The issue is that the negotiation must be concluded I think the matter will be solved once all the principals are back in the country . '' Mugabe has been in the United States for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly . He is expected back in the country after Saturday . Zimbabwe has been facing a collapsing economy for nearly a decade , and is plagued with high unemployment , food shortages and at least 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line . This has been accompanied by dizzying levels of inflation -- now officially at 11.2 million percent , the highest in the world . Once an exporter of food , Zimbabwe has been a net importer of food since 2000 , when Mugabe 's government embarked on a controversial and violent land reform program that displaced some experienced commercial farmers , most of them of European origin . Tsvangirai said he has consulted with food security experts and was told the country needs to import 800,000 tons of maize -LRB- corn -RRB- to avoid starvation until the next harvest in April .