Household access to food a major problem

Access to food will be a major challenge for ordinary Zimbabweans in the 2004/05 consumption year, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has cautioned. "Zimbabwe continues to face a severe food security crisis, characterised by high levels of unemployment and inflation, poor agricultural production over the last four years, drought, and poor government policies, exacerbated by crippling levels of HIV/AIDS," FEWS NET said in its latest food security emergency report. Over the last year more than two-thirds of the population has been food insecure, the report noted. Although some food security indicators had improved in recent months, "many Zimbabweans continue to face conditions of extreme food insecurity". "The most significant food security problem in Zimbabwe is access to adequate food. The purchasing power of both rural and urban households has drastically declined over the past few years, as the availability and value of income options has declined, inflation has risen and unemployment has remained high. Even if food is available on the market, urban and rural households will not be able to purchase it if they do not have the money or other means needed to do so," FEWS NET said. Zimbabwe's inflation rate has hovered around 600 percent and, coupled with poor harvests in recent years, this has led to a significant decrease in household purchasing power. "Over the past few years, cereal availability has been a major concern, given poor cereal production and concerns regarding the capacity of the country to import sufficient food to meet needs. Following a poor start, the [current] agricultural season has progressed better than expected, with favourable rainfall in the second half of the season, combined with greater availability of seeds and inputs than expected," the report commented. With the cancellation of the United Nations-led crop and food supply assessment mission, "there is currently not a consensus on likely 2003/04 maize production", but FEWS NET's preliminary assessment is that production will be close to the last five-year average of about 1.4 million mt. "This is an improvement over last year's very poor season, but lower than the 1990s average, leaving a sizable import requirement. Based on the country's import record over the past three years, and provided the foreign currency earnings situation remains at least the same as it was in 2001/02, the country could still manage to import, from within the region, the minimum of 500,000 mt needed to close the gap. However, this import performance will need to be periodically reassessed in view of the continuing economic decline and poor export performance," FEWS NET explained. Ensuring household level access to food would therefore be "a major national challenge" in the 2004/05 marketing year. The state Grain Marketing Board (GMB) would have to improve its capacity to "purchase grain surplus from the market and redistribute to the right places at the right time in the right quantities". "With food access of great continuing concern, targeted food aid should continue throughout the country for poor socioeconomic groups. Improved maize availability will not address the famine threat that could occur in some parts of the country this year. Special attention is required for the most vulnerable districts of Manicaland and Matebeleland South provinces," the report concluded.