The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Sunday News Reporter
MATABELELAND North province has been rated as the most food insecure province in Zimbabwe, amid revelations that 16 percent of rural households in the country are estimated to have insufficient means to meet their minimum food needs in the 2015/16 consumption year.
This comes just a few days after Environment, Water and Climate Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said the country had to brace itself for a drought in the approaching season. Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said the 2015/16 rainfall outlook had several implications on agriculture, food security, health, energy and disaster risk reduction.
According to the latest Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) report, 28,5 percent of Matabeleland North households are “food insecure” (lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food). The province is followed by Midlands at 18,5 percent, while Matabeleland South province is third at 17,4 percent. Last year the country’s food insecurity level was pegged at only six percent. Mashonaland East province was noted to have the highest food security with 91,7 percent of its households being secure.
“Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Masvingo provinces have the highest proportions of households likely to be food insecure in the 2015/2016 consumption year, priority should be given to these provinces in addressing the food insecurity problem. This assessment estimates the total requirements for all households deemed to have inadequate resources to feed themselves to be equivalent to 55 130 tonnes of maize,” reads the report.
Meanwhile, the Matabeleland region has six districts in the top 10 of districts nationally with the highest levels of food insecurity with Zvishavane district in the Midlands having the highest level of food insecurity with 42,2 percent of the households insecure, while Umguza and Mbire districts are a joint second at 41,7 percent each.
Other districts which make up the top 10 with the highest food insecurity are Umzingwane (40 percent), Buhera (37,8 percent), Lupane (33,1 percent), Binga (32,8 percent), Tsholotsho (31,7 percent), Mwenenzi (31,1 percent) and Hwange (28,9 percent).
Matabeleland North province — at 28 percent — has the highest proportion of its rural population being projected to be food insecure during the peak hunger period (January-March), which is 12 percentage points above the national average which is at 16 percent.
“During the second quarter of the consumption year, approximately 462 000 people are projected to be food insecure which is about 190 percent increase compare to 2014/2015 and 37 percent decrease compared to 2013/2014 consumption year.
“During the peak hunger period 1 490 024 people are projected to be food insecure which is a 163 percent increase. The food insecurity trends have remained relatively the same over the last three years with the Mashonaland provinces having the least proportion and the Matabeleland provinces having the highest proportion of the food insecure rural population,” reads the report.
It has further been discovered that about two thirds of households across the provinces consumed acceptable diets except for Matabeleland North where 49 percent of the households were not consuming an “acceptable” diet.
However, on a positive note, the Matabeleland provinces had the highest number of households that consumed three meals or more a day. The country also recorded a decline in household crop production compared to that of previous season mainly due to poor rainfall.
“There was a general decline in the proportion of households producing all crops compared to the previous season, 66 percent of the households produced maize compared to 88 percent from the previous season. Maize and groundnuts were the most common crops produced by households,” the report reads.
In terms of income, Matabeleland North again reported the lowest income and expenditure.
“Mashonaland East had the highest average expenditure of $82, while Matabeleland North had the lowest expenditure of $40. Matabeleland North reported the lowest income ($55) and expenditure ($40) which is consistent with the Zimbabwe Poverty report which reported that it has the highest percentage of households in poverty (82 percent) and extreme poverty (37 percent).
“Matabeleland South had the highest expenditure on food items ($37) followed by Mashonaland East ($36) and Manicaland ($32). Mashonaland East had the highest expenditure on non-food items at $43,” reads the report.
However, last week Government started distributing drought relief grain to families in almost all provinces which were affected by poor yields due to the low rains recorded last season. The deficit of 700 000 tonnes of grain is being addressed through importation from a number of countries by both Government and the private sector.
The drought relief programme coincides with the distribution of inputs under the Presidential Inputs Scheme which also starts this week in time for the summer cropping season. Both programmes are being co-ordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare which will be assisted by Provincial Affairs Ministers.
Commenting on the pending drought in the country, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made allayed fears, saying Government had already put in place systems to tackle the issue.
“As you might know, we have started the distribution of grain to all the provinces, we know the severity of the cases hence quantities distributed will be done in accordance of the severity of the situation. We are especially targeting the vulnerable families where we will give them vouchers which they will use to access the grain,” said Dr Made.
According to the second crop assessment results carried out recently, Masvingo was the worst affected among the rural provinces, while Mashonaland Central had a surplus of 76 000 tonnes and Mashonaland West had a surplus of 54 000 tonnes. Masvingo requires 131 000 tonnes, Manicaland 96 000 tonners, Midlands 93 000 tonnes, Matabeleland South 61 000 tonnes, Matabeleland North 46 000 tonnes and Mashonaland East 44 000 tonnes.
