Hunger stalks more people
Peter Moyo
The estimated number of people with insufficient food consumption increased during October, according to the World Food Program (WFP)
WFP’s Hunger Map Live shows a 7% increase of people with insufficient food consumption from about 5.4 million at the end of September to 5.8 million in October.
Matabeleland North (48%), Midlands (48%), and Mashonaland Central (41%) have the highest estimated number of people with insuffient food consumption in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans estimated to be resorting to ‘crisis and above’ food-based coping increased to 7.6 million. Food insecure households often use strategies such as limiting portion size at meal times, skipping meals and restricted consumption of adults so small children can eat, to deal with food insecurity.
Indications are that Zimbabweans are now forced into food-based coping by the rising cost of living.
WFP says, “The cost of living as reflected by the Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) per person per month rose by 3% from ZWL27,297.53 per person in September 2022 to ZWL28,144.07 in October 2022.
Though headline inflation is declining, it still remains high compared to the 65% reported same time last year.”
Headline inflation is a measure of the total inflation within an economy, including commodities such as food and energy prices, which tend to be much more volatile and prone to inflationary spikes.
The WPF report is corroborated by Trading Economics which revealed that inflation in the country remains one of the highest globally and that Zimbabwe was the only country in Southern Africa with headline inflation above 50% and monthly inflation above 1%.
Trading Economics provides its users with accurate information for 196 countries (including Zimbabwe) in terms of historical data and forecasts for more than 20 million economic indicators, exchange rates, stock market indexes, government bond yields and commodity prices.
“The ZWL was trading at ZWL830/USD and ZLWL630/USD on the parallel and official market, respectively. The monthly movements on both the parallel and official markets have slowed down to 2% and 1% respectively. The difference between the official and parallel market exchange rates in October remained 32%, while compared to the same period last year, the gap has decreased by about 67 percentage points,” says WFP, whose report also points out that basic food commodity prices were more stable in urban markets in October when compared to September, whilst steadily decreasing in both USD and ZWL since July 2022.
In addition, WFP makes reference to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) which projects an increase in the number of people experiencing “Crisis phase” food security outcomes in deficit-producing areas for October 2022.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network is a leading provider of early warning and analysis on food insecurity. Created by USAID in 1985 to help decision-makers plan for humanitarian crises, FEWS NET provides evidence-based analysis on approximately 30 countries.
