Food poverty to further constrain living standards

FINDINGS of the 2023 Crop, Livestock and Fisheries Assessment Report — 2) indicate that the country will be cereal self-sufficient during the current consumption year (April 2023 — March 2024) following an expected cereal bumper harvest of approximately 2 300 000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize and 281 000MT of small grains against a total of cereal requirement of approximately 2 300 000MT for both human and livestock consumption.

With a current cereal stock of about 303 000MT in strategic grain reserve, the country is expected to have a surplus of about 590 000MT.

Compared to last year, overall food and non-food crop production increased by 59% and 35%, respectively.

The food poverty line increased by about 11% compared to the previous month, raising concern on how this extra pressure will further constrain living standards and exacerbate vulnerability of low income and resource-constrained urban and rural households which are already struggling to meet their minimum food requirements on a daily basis.

Monthly inflation is on upward trend having increased by 2,3 percentage points to 2,4% against the March rate of 0,1%.

Meanwhile, the gap between the official and parallel currency exchange rate is widening — in April there was a 91% difference between the official rate ($1 021:US$1) and the parallel market rate ($1 950:US$1).

According to World Food Programme’s HungerMap LIVE, the number of people facing insufficient food consumption and those employing “crisis and above” food-based coping strategies continues to decrease as the main harvest takes place, and households consume what they produced and raise earnings through sale of produce such as maize and tobacco.

According to the most recent Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews-Net) report, food access and dietary diversity are improving across Zimbabwe as harvesting has commenced.

The food poverty and total consumption poverty lines, monitored by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, have started to increase and were reported at $25 170 and $33 044, respectively, in April.

The cost of the monitored minimum expenditure food basket is increasing in Zimdollar terms and decreasing in US$ terms in both rural and urban markets.

The price of fuel remained stable in both US$ and Zimdollar terms. Meanwhile, prices of hygiene items are increasing while availability is decreasing.