Latest FewsNet Report On Food
Yesterday ZimJournalists Arise published Part One on the October Fewsnet report.Today we ciruclate Part Two of the report.

Widespread Disparities In Sub-National Cereal Availability

Maize meal availability in shops throughout the country improved markedly in September and early October, particularly in southern Zimbabwe where production does not normally satisfy local demand. The improved availability is attributable to the increase in supplies of grain and maize meal distributed to millers and shops by the GMB, augmented by food aid distributions in September. In addition, limited amounts of grain are moving from surplus to deficit areas through private traders.

Maize grain is still available for localized farmer to farmer trade in most parts of the central and northern districts of the country. Prices vary considerably from one place to another depending on the area's relative availability and accessibility of maize grain. In the green colored zone covering much of Mashonaland provinces and the northern parts of Midland Province, open market grain prices ranged from Z$23 to Z$49/kg in the first half of October 2006. Maize grain was generally readily available in most of this zone in October. Able bodied members of poor households could find work with better off households, providing their labor in exchange for maize. Opportunities for casual labor in agriculture are set to increase with the onset of the rainy season next month.

The highest maize grain prices were recorded in the greater parts of Manicaland and the two Matebeleland provinces. This zone is colored red in Figure 1. Open market maize grain prices ranged from Z$87 to Z$114/kg during the first half of October 2006. The relatively high maize prices in this zone should be worrying because the majority of the population in the zone belongs to cereal deficit households that depend on the market for their cereal needs.

The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) food security assessment from May 2006 estimated about 17 percent of Zimbabwe's population, approximately 1.4 million people, will be food insecure at the peak of the hunger period. The yellow and red colored zones in Figure 1, where maize prices are at least Z$52/kg, include areas where the ZimVAC assessment found more than 19 percent of the population to be food insecure.

In Binga, Hwange, Rushinga and Mudzi districts, between 31 and 37 percent of the population was food insecure. In October, the same districts recorded the highest maize prices of around Z$115/kg. The central districts of the country were assessed to have the smallest proportions of food insecure people, and generally correspond to the green zone in Figure 1. The southern half of the country which is generally the traditionally low crop producing parts of the country has the highest concentration of the food insecure rural population.

Since maize grain prices and maize meal prices have increased significantly since May, while incomes may not have adjusted accordingly, the size of the food insecure population could be higher than assessed in May. Joint WFP/FEWSNET monitoring will provide some information that could be used to update the food security situation in October and November.

High cost of living continues to restrict household food access

Household food access continues to be severely restricted by the ever-increasing cost of food and cost of living in general. The food poverty line for September 2006 was $40,000, 26 percent higher than in August 2006. The agricultural worker's minimum wage, the most common monthly wage, was Z$4,160 in September – just 10% of the food poverty line* for the same month. This is putting enormous strain on affected households, forcing them to engage in various income, consumption and expenditure coping strategies.

Annual inflation reached new heights in August 2006 of 1,205 percent, and fell to 1,023 percent in September 2006. There is no reason to believe the downward trend in annual inflation will be sustained; rather it is more likely that the rate of inflation will increase further. Given the rapid rise in the cost of living, the majority of both urban and rural households' incomes are not keeping pace. In the urban areas, where households obtain most of their food from shops.

Edited