Food Insecurity in Zimbabwe

Food Insecurity in Zimbabwe

Introduction

In 2002, Zimbabwe experienced a severe crop failure due to early termination of the rains in February. The reduction in yield and output at farm level led to a 70% shortfall in production to meet annual food requirements. This was the largest deficit in its food production history since 1980.This created severe food shortage in both urban and rural areas. The food shortages, in turn, deteriorated into a famine and a humanitarian disaster. The cereal deficit in the April 2002 - March 2003 marketing year was estimated at 1.65 million tonnes (Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment, 2002).

According to the Zimbabwe Emergency Food Security Assessment, 486 000 tonnes of food aid was needed to meet food security requirements of 6 700 000 people (49% of the population) over the period September 2002 to March 2003. Of the 6 700 000 requiring food aid, 5 900 000 were in rural areas and 850 000 in urban areas. Seventy percent of the rural population was at risk of famine-induced starvation (WFP, 2002). It was projected that the rural population at risk would increase to 80% and 100% by end of 2002 as households ran out of stocks. The scale of the food aid was unprecedented in the history of Zimbabwe. Despite the food security achievements and experiences of the past twenty years and early warnings of a pending crisis, the country was ill prepared and not able to cope unlike in earlier droughts. The country had exhausted its strategic grain reserve. Due to foreign currency shortage, the country did not have the capacity for commercial imports needed to meet 70% of its annual maize requirements. World food aid became a major source of relief to avert national food security disaster.

Yet, in the past, Zimbabwe has been food self-sufficient and even exported surpluses to fellow SADC countries and others (such as Ethiopia). The country coped well with the droughts of 1987, 1982 and 1992. Several inter-related factors that can be attributed to the situation the country found in. The country had not recovered from the effects of the Cyclone Eline in the1999/2000 season as well as the effects of a mild dry spell season in 2000/2001. Before 1999, the country had produced surplus and maintained a strategic grain reserve that covered six-nine months. Years of economic decline and balance of payment problems reduced the capacity to produce outputs such as food crops and exportable commodities to earn foreign currency. The prevailing political and economic factors constrained the government's ability to respond promptly and effectively to the unfolding food security crisis. On responding, the measured adopted to some extent exacerbated the food insecurity situation. In examining food insecurity and vulnerability in Zimbabwe, one needs to understand the basic causes of the problem. This paper outlines the food insecurity issues and underlying factors that could have led to the food insecurity crisis of 2001-2002. The paper is based on various stakeholders' perspectives and views of the historical and current factors ...