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FEWS Southern Africa Food Security Brief Dec 2005
FEWSNET
January 17, 2006

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/ACIO-6L5LPB?OpenDocument&rc=1&cc=zwe

Executive Summary
As the hunger season progresses in Southern Africa, food security in the region continues to deteriorate, especially in those countries where food crop production was insufficient to meet domestic requirements.

In more severe cases (as in some parts of Zimbabwe and Malawi), supplies of staple cereals are increasingly unavailable, causing retail food prices to rise steeply and exacerbating food access problems for the most vulnerable households. Intra-regional trade continues to play an important role in filling import requirements in some food deficit countries. In Zimbabwe, government efforts to move 1.2 million MT of maize have seen over 762,000 MT of imports between April and December 2005. However due to barriers to informal trade, very little staple food has been imported informally from its neighbours.

Elsewhere in the region, delivery of commercial imports can not keep the pace with demand. Continued close monitoring is recommended.

Following a delayed start of the 2005/06 rainy season in some parts of the region, many areas received normal to above normal rains in December, which has improved conditions for agriculture in most areas.

Agricultural activities are reported to be well advanced throughout the region, although shortages of or lack of access to farm inputs (especially seeds and fertilizers) will continue to constrain farmers’ ability to plant sufficient crops to meet their requirements, and will lower yields where input supply has been problematic.

In Malawi and Mozambique, heavy rainfall in late December and early January saturated soils and in central Mozambique and Malawi caused severe flooding, resulting in the loss of lives and several thousand hectares of cropland. Thousands of people have been displaced.

Food security situation and current interventions
The latest food security assessments indicate varying levels of food insecurity across the region as the hungry season progresses. While the overall situation in the few countries that harvested enough staple foods to meet requirements remains relatively stable, the situation in the deficit countries continues to deteriorate rapidly. Countries with populations that are now facing critical food access problems include Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe but localized shortages have been assessed in other countries of the region.

Reports from Zimbabwe indicate increasing levels of food insecurity across the country as the country grapples to cover one of the largest cereal gaps (1.2 million MT of maize alone) as a result of a poor growing season last year that was exacerbated by widespread shortages of farm inputs. Household food access remains a serious concern with large numbers of the most vulnerable unable to meet minimum food requirements. WFP’s Community Household Surveillance (CHS) analysis for October 2005 indicates that, compared to the previous month (September) and the same time last year, a larger number of households reported having no food stocks available from any source.

As the little harvest that was realized has been completely drawn down, most households are relying on purchases, but shortages of food supplies on the markets have driven up prices while the continued erosion of purchasing power (the consumer price index rose 502% in November) means access to adequate food supplies cannot be assured. Maize prices on the parallel markets in both rural and urban areas went up significantly between October and November.

For an example, prices in Harare (Mbare Musika) went up from Z$10,286/kg to Z$11,429/kg, an increase of 11 percent. Similar (or higher) increases were observed in other open markets across the country; November prices in Bulawayo went up 20 percent from Z$8571/kg in October to Z$10,286/kg. The recent agreement signed between the government and WFP on the delivery and distribution of food aid in the country has paved the way for WFP and its operating partners to feed the millions of Zimbabweans facing acute food shortages. Emergency plans will target the 2.9 million identified through the Zimbabwe VAC last June although there is widespread recognition that food insecure populations have risen far above this number that was arrived at based on unrealistic inflation assumptions. In November, WFP, C-SAFE, and other NGOs provided food aid to 2 million beneficiaries, the number of beneficiaries has increased to 3 million for the period from December 2005 to March 2006.

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