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Community
Assessment of Food Security and the Social Situation in Zimbabwe
- February 2004 - Summary
Civic Monitoring
Programme integrating the FOSENET Food Security Monitoring
March 31, 2004
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full report
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The February
2004 report is drawn from 146 monitoring reports from 60 districts
from all provinces of Zimbabwe, with an average of 2.4 reports per
district.
Food security
is gradually improving, primarily due to early production yields
and available wild foods. Food security is however still low with
91% of households having food stocks of a month or less. Thirty-five
districts (58%) report a worsening food situation, reduced from
79% in January, while a fifth (22%) report improving food supplies,
a significant increase on the 11% in January, and due to early planted
crops being harvested. Food insecurity appears to be highest in
Manicaland and Matabeleland provinces.
Households continue
to be dependent on GMB, relief and commercial food, with about a
tenth sourcing food from own production.
Availability
of fertilizer and seed appears to have remained relatively constant
since January, with availability in about half of districts.
GMB deliveries
were reported to have been improving since January 2004 in terms
of quantities being delivered and the frequency of deliveries to
sentinel wards. Communities continue to note problems in GMB food
distribution, including rising prices, influential people accessing
GMB food ahead of others and political bias.
Commercial availability
of basic foodstuffs (maize meal, oil, sugar and bread) is higher
in February 2004 than it was at the same period in 2003, significantly
so in some provinces. Price is the major reported barrier to food
access from commercial markets, with monitoring reports in half
the districts noting that 50% or more of households in the district
could not afford prevailing maize meal prices.
Households unable
to afford food are reported to carry out farm work for food, rural
gold panning and urban vending and to rely heavily on relief.
The government
cash for work programme was reported present in thirty two districts
(53% of districts).
NGO Relief activities
were reported present in forty four districts (73% of districts)
including urban areas, a relatively constant level compared to January
2004. Reports indicate the relief programmes are generally now focused
on the most vulnerable groups, including school children, the elderly,
pregnant women, orphans and people with TB and AIDS.
There was some
movement by people from urban and resettlement areas to rural areas
where relief food is being distributed. The greater reporting of
movement of people to areas of relief food distribution than of
relief food leakages into commercial markets indicates that the
system for relief distribution has remained relatively free from
leakages, although biases in access continue to be reported.
Inward or outward
population migration was reported in 50% of the districts, an increase
on the figure reported in January 2004 (36% of districts) and similar
to the figure reported in November 2003 (47% of districts). People
are reported to be moving due to the cost of living, for incomes,
due to land tenure changes or for political security.
Households reported
that they used a range of approaches to deal with economic difficulties,
most individual household actions rather than community actions
- Not buying
medicines when ill (Manicaland)
- Sale of personal
goods to raise funds for survival (Manicaland)
- fishing in
dams, selling river sand, bricks and other goods (Mashonaland
East)
- sale of vegetables
and fruit (Mashonaland East)
- commercial
sex work (Manicaland, Mashonaland East)
- working as
housemaids (Mashonaland Central)
Sixteen districts(26%)
reported that households were selling assets, similar to the 28%
reported in January.
Health service
provision was reported to be reasonable in relation to infrastructures
and nurse staffing. However safe water and drug supplies were less
available. Cost is also reported to be a barrier to health care,
with clinic fees reported to range from Z$700 – Z$15 000.
Community reports
noted that school dropouts are attributable to economic difficulties,
with parents or guardians failing to raise money for school fees
and levies, given the increases imposed at the beginning of the
year. School fees were reported to range from Z$ 300 - Z$70 000
per term, and levies from Z$425 – Z$50 000. The other significant
cost reported for households was the cost of uniforms. The groups
reported to be most affected by fallout from education were members
of child headed households (due to AIDS deaths) and extremely poor
households.
In February
2004 58% of districts reported that communities met their Member
of Parliament or councilor during the month, a significant increase
compared to January 2004.
Communities
seem, however, to lack access to information. On agricultural prices
for example only half of districts said they could adequately access
information, with 30% of these getting information from formal media,
especially print media, 23% from word of mouth and 15% from traders
directly.
Visit the FOSENET
fact sheet
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