Zimbabwe’s food crisis continues to deepen, with the country’s staple cereal gap for the 2003/04 marketing year (April 1 2003 to March 31 2004) standing at 738 464 tons, of which 671 424 tons is maize, the latest Famine Early Warning Systems Network report on the country says.
Food aid and commercial imports achieved by mid-September have covered only 28% of Zimbabwe’s 2003/04 marketing year’s initial cereal deficit, the report says.
Zimbabwe’s food inflation was estimated at 487,3% in August.
The 2002/03 harvest is running out for most rural households, and purchased foods are selling at prices that continue to escalate far beyond the reach of the majority of poor households.
However, maize grain, cooking oil, rice and bread supplies continue to be stable in most areas of the country.
Maize meal, which was becoming more visible on the formal market, has become less so following the government’s crackdown on major millers for selling the commodity at above-government-stipulated prices.
The World Food Programme food aid distribution to about 1,164-million beneficiaries went ahead in August without any disruptions, despite fears that the Zimbabwe government’s new policy guidelines on humanitarian assistance would
provide impetus for interference with humanitarian food distributions.
Access is by far the biggest constraint to food security for the urban population throughout the country.
Food access constraints are compounded by high inflation and national cash shortages, which showed no signs of abating at the end of September 2003.
Rainfall prospects for the 2003/04 rainfall season, as currently forecast, are fair to good for the country.
However, changes in the agricultural landscape and shortages of inputs, including fertilisers, seeds, fuel, credit and spare parts, are all combining to severely limit potential production for the 2003/04 agricultural season.
If current shortages of fuel, fertiliser, foreign currency, cash and maize seed persist, Zimbabwe will not be able to produce more than 1,2-million tons of maize (66% of its national requirements) in the 2003/04 agricultural season, in the best of rainfall circumstances, the report said.