ReliefWeb

Food insecurity to worsen during the peak of the lean season due to humanitarian funding shortfalls

Key Messages

• As the lean season progresses the food security situation is deteriorating and based on earlier projections by the ZIM VAC, the proportion of the food insecure population will increase by 45 percent between January and February. Poor households in the southwestern areas are Stressed (IPC Phase 2!) through March, while most households in the north will face Minimal (IPC Phase 1!) outcomes. Between April and June Minimal outcomes are expected across the country once the main harvest is underway.

• Humanitarian assistance through the STA program is currently underway, but is limited by funding shortfalls. This has resulted in over a 40 percent caseload reduction along with the distribution of half rations in December and January. Without additional resources, the STA half rations may end during the peak of the lean season.

• Both maize grain and meal is available in most northern areas; however in southern parts of the country only maize meal is available. In comparison to the same time last year, national prices for maize meal and grain are 25 percent higher than average. In parts of the southern region, maize meal prices are ranging between 17-50 percent higher than the same time last year.

• Rainfall started early in the central parts of the country and late in the extreme northern and southern areas. Nonetheless most of the country received normal to above‐normal rainfall in the first half of the 2013/14 agriculture season. Most farmers received seeds and planted on time, so the prospects for a normal harvest are good.