Looming cereal deficits in rural districts

Cereal deficits are expected in 20 of Zimbabwe's rural districts during the 2004/05 marketing year, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said in its latest food security update. National cereal availability would be "less of a problem, compared to last year", due to an anticipated improvement in the maize and small grains harvest, government cereal stocks of about 200,000 mt (as of 31 March) and food aid imports since 1 April, as well as "secured food aid in the pipeline". However, food access "will remain a major problem for highly vulnerable households in both urban and rural areas", with cereal deficits predicted in about 20 rural districts, mostly in Manicaland province on the Mozambique border and the two Matabeleland provinces in the south and west of the country, said FEWS NET. "About 60 percent of Zimbabwe's population live in rural areas and base their livelihoods largely on crop production and livestock husbandry ... when crops fail and local markets are disrupted, the rural population must rely on a number of coping strategies that have been developed over time, including reduced consumption, increased efforts to generate cash income, and painful changes in expenditure," report noted. It was therefore critical that the government and its partners "put in place more effective market mechanisms to supply grain to deficit areas". The picture was somewhat different in urban areas, where commodities were available on the market but affordability was a major problem. "While basic foodstuffs such as maize meal, maize grain, sugar, flour, salt, cooking oil and meat are available on the market, the majority of poor urban households cannot afford to buy these commodities. Both annual and monthly inflation rates have declined since January, but remain precariously high and continue to erode real incomes," FEWS NET reported.