The food security situation in Zimbabwe has remained stable and market food supplies have improved. The improved availability of food and non-food items has been attributed to the relaxation of restrictions on private sector trade. In addition, harvests of green maize, groundnuts, and pumpkins peaked in March but will continue through mid-April, improving household food supplies.
The limited purchasing power of most poor urban households continues to constrain their food access, despite a significant fall in prices of basic foods since November. However, in February, civil servants received a monthly allowance in foreign currency, which improved their access to food now sold in foreign currency.
From mid-February, the maize crop that had been planted by mid December, estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) to cover 82 percent of the total area planted to maize this season, began contributing to food supplies for rural households who were able to plant by this time. Other food crops, such as pumpkins, groundnuts, and cowpeas are also increasingly available. However, the imminent scaling down of food assistance at the end of March is expected to reduce food access by those vulnerable households without the capacity to produce their own food.
The rains received in March have improved harvest prospects for the late-planted maize crop (estimated by the MoA to be 18 percent of total area under maize this season). The ongoing second round crop assessment is expected to provide a harvest estimate for the 2008/09 season by April 2009, and preliminary indications are that the harvest will be better than that for last year.