Zim in acute food security crisis

THE Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has raised concern over Zimbabwe's food insecurity which has been worsened by a deteriorating economy.

The revelation was made a few weeks after the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) revealed that crossborder migration had become one of the “key” survival strategies in the country in the face of the prevailing harsh economic landscape.

Driving the poor economic climate is a depreciating Zimbabwe dollar that has seen the cost of living shooting to ZW$73 000 (US$647,04) as of last month, up from ZW$58 284 (US$551,61) in November 2021, according to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ).

Also, the downturn of the local currency which has translated to increased inflation coupled with the cost of living is severely eroding employee earnings.

“In the case of Zimbabwe, it is affected by the deterioration of the economy and that is the main reason. From the nutrition angle we are planning to organise regional training in the first half of the year,” JICA Economic Development deputy director general, and group director for Agricultural and Rural Development 2 (Africa, Middle East and Europe) Shinjiro Amameishi said during a zoom meeting.

“We will be inviting the government of Zimbabwe and that is what we can do. What your country is facing is serious and this is mainly coming from the deterioration of the economy. We are aware of a crisis looming in Zimbabwe.”

The Zoom meeting was an online press briefing regarding JICA’s commitment in

Africa concerning nutrition improvement, as a follow-up of the ‘Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit 2021’, which was held on December 7 and 8, 2021.

“Regarding financial support for Zimbabwe, our major operations are technical cooperation and we do not have a function to directly support by providing financial support…What we can do is provide opportunities to take part in technical training,” Amameishi said.

With inflation and the cost of living rising, most businesses are increasing prices to maintain the value of goods and services.

However, this has left most consumers unable to afford goods and services resulting in most households experiencing a poor diet and forced to reduce food quantities.

Food rationing and skipping meals has been noted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) food security arm, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FewsNet).

The rise in inflation and the cost of living is against monthly wages that range between an average of ZW$20 000 (US$185) to ZW$50 000 (US$462,96).

In FewsNet’s most recent food security outlook, it warned that inflation and the cost of living was now leaving the majority of urbanites poorer.

“Annual inflation and cost of living as reported by Zimstat continue to rise, increasingly negatively impacting poor households’ access to food and other basic commodities and services in both rural and urban areas. The food poverty line – the amount required to meet minimum food needs of 2 100 calories per person per day — increased by 6,2% to ZW$5 760 (US$53) per person per month in December,” FewsNet said.