This report is produced by Office of the Resident Coordinator in Zimbabwe in collaboration with humanitarian partners.

Transcription

1 Zimbabwe: Food Insecurity Office of the Resident Coordinator Situation Update No. 01 (as of 20 August 2015) This report is produced by Office of the Resident Coordinator in Zimbabwe in collaboration with humanitarian partners. Highlights According to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC): 1.5 million Zimbabweans are likely to be unable to meet their food needs during the 2015/2016 hunger season. This represents a rise of 160% compared to those facing food insecurity during the 2014/2015 hunger season. Compared to the previous year, the maize harvest had halved this year with an associated cereal deficit of 650,000 MT, not including the 350,000 MT required for livestock and industrial purposes. A multi-sectoral response plan is currently being developed. While there are a significant number of people in urgent need of life saving assistance, the response must be done in a way that transitions food insecure groups to more resilient strategies. 1.5M People in need of assistance 77,000 Households in need of livestock support (FAO) Situation Overview According to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC), 1.5 million Zimbabweans (16% of rural households) are likely to be unable to meet their food needs during the 2015/2016 hunger season. This represents a rise of 160% compared to those facing food insecurity during the 2014/2015 hunger season. The main contributing factor to the increase of food and livelihood insecurity was a halving in maize production compared to the previous harvest year, and an associated cereal deficit of 650,000 MT, not including the 350,000 MT required for livestock and industrial purposes. WFP reported that the lean season would commence earlier than usual in most areas. Additionally the ZimVAC has indicated that that Matebeleland North, Matebeleland South and Masvingo provinces have the highest proportions of households likely to be affected by food insecurity in the 2015/2016 consumption year. These provinces reported the following statistics: Matebeleland North worst affected (28% at peak), followed by Midlands (18%), Matebeleland South and Masvingo (17%). This food insecurity predominantly has resulted from a loss of production, mainly due to prolonged dry spells of over 60 days particularly in the southern and south-eastern parts of the country. The rainfall distribution pattern was poor both in space and time across the country with the exception of most of the Mashonaland provinces. This loss of production has also had additional consequences including the loss of household/livelihoods income from decreased labour opportunities in the agricultural sector. According to FEWSNET, diminished remittances have had a negative impact on household food security and it is expected that there will be further constraints on in-coming remittances. FEWSNET also described that the economic outlook is of concern in Zimbabwe with a decline in economic growth and a high rate of company closures and retrenchments.

2 Zimbabwe Food Insecurity It should be noted that there is a poor outlook for the 2015/2016 harvest season with 90% chance of El Niño in the Southern Africa region likely to result in further rainfall deficiencies (Source: FEWSNET). This outlook makes the support to resilience-building approaches even more crucial. Funding With the ZimVAC findings estimating that 1.5 million people will need food security assistance, the First Vice President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa also made a verbal appeal for food security assistance, estimating a financial requirement of about USD300 million. The UN Resident Coordinator s Office with the support of UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and in collaboration with humanitarian and development partners is currently drafting a Response Plan designed at addressing the immediate needs in the next few monthsand also assists transition food insecure groups to more resilient strategies. This plan should also detail ongoing interventions that will reach those who are food insecure as well as longer term efforts that are envisaged to build resilience in communities hit by food insecurity. Some planned or ongoing interventions/programmes to address the food security situation have already received funding. Generous assistance has been received in the form of bilateral aid from donors including: USAID, Japan, UK-DFID and EU- ECHO It is anticipated that significant gaps will remain in funding the Response Plan, and to this end humanitarian and development partners are requested to further assist to ensure that the current response meets all those in need and provide long-lasting results. Details on these funding gaps will be presented in the response plan along with the next situation update. Response The Government of Zimbabwe, UN Agencies and NGOs are already responding or are preparing to respond to the food insecurity situation. These response strategies will be detailed within the Response Plan currently being drafted that looks at both immediate response and transitioning to resilient strategies. The next situation update will present the response and the gaps in more detail. The ZimVAC highlights the need for interventions to reach food insecure households at the peak of the hunger season particularly in the priority provinces of Matebeleland North, Matabeleland South and Masvingo. However, acknowledging that food insecurity is recurrent in many areas of Zimbabwe this response should attempt to meaningfully link to the future operationalisation of the Zimbabwe Resilience Framework. Needs by sector Agriculture Needs: Efforts will be required to strengthen rural livelihoods. This includes increasing and stabilizing productivity and household incomes through agricultural input support with a bias towards increased crop diversity; identification of new value chains in the rural areas that create employment opportunities for rural communities: inputs and markets development with a particular focus on road infrastructure development and 77,000 Households in need of livestock support maintenance; irrigation development and rehabilitation; promoting soil and water conversation and ancillary climate smart technologies; promoting increased livestock ownership- starting with small stock and improving productivity within the existing livestock herds; strengthening the role of remittances and other social support system and reducing transaction costs; and promoting diversified and less vulnerable income sources. An additional concern is the lack of water availability for livestock, stock feeds and livestock vaccines for Foot and Mouth Disease and anthrax. The provision of livestock vaccines is particularly important as the spread of two of the four notifiable diseases (FMD and Anthrax) is exacerbated by the dry conditions from the insufficient rainfall conditions due to the uncontrolled cattle movements and grazing. FAO is working with the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development in vaccinating livestock against FMD, for which additional funding will be required.

3 Zimbabwe Food Insecurity Education Needs: The ZimVAC results showed that for households with orphans and vulnerable children there is a strong relationship between non-attendance of Education and the presence of vulnerability characteristics in the household, particularly financial constraints. A significant proportion of children who were out of school were not attending as a result of financial constraints (37%). The Basic Education Assistance 37% Of children out of school due to financial constraints Module (BEAM) is one of the largest social safety nets aimed at reducing the number of orphans and vulnerable children from dropping out of school but according to a BEAM evaluation 62% of children who deserve this assistance are not currently covered. Food Security Needs: An estimated 1.5 million Zimbabweans are projected to be unable to meet their minimum food requirement by the peak of the lean season in 2015/2016. A number of factors have contributed to this including insufficient rainfall 10 Districts with the highest food insecurity levels Jan-Mar Jan-Mar both in amount and geographic distribution; high and Province District 2015% 2016% increasing cereal prices, high levels of underlying Midlands Zvishavane vulnerabilities in communities as well as a poor national economic outlook resulting in limited livelihood options and Manicaland Buhera incomes especially for poor households. Worsening economic conditions in Zimbabwe and the unstable labour market in Mash Central Mbire South Africa are expected to decrease remittance levels by about 40%of normal. Masvingo Mwenezi The lean season is forecasted earlier than usual, even in traditionally cereal surplus areas (see table for the hardest hit districts). In most northern districts the majority of households are consuming own-produced cereals from recent and previous harvests. Mat South Umzingwane Mat North Umguza Lupane Binga Tsholotsho Most households in the southern areas are increasing reliance on market purchases for staple cereal, which is pushing up Figure 1: Source ZimVAC prices to levels averaging % above the previous year s prices and 35 % above the national average. Due to an undersupply of maize grain on most southern markets during the outlook period, maize meal demand and prices are also expected to increase to levels above the previous year. Hwange As mentioned, markets will play a critical role in the supply of food with Zimbabwe having to compete with other SADC countries for maize. There is a need to ensure that there are policies and mechanisms for distributing the staple food with the aim being equitable distribution of grain (both imported and domestic) to ensure minimum price disparities. Figure 2: Source FEWSNET

4 Zimbabwe Food Insecurity Logistics Needs: The requirements currently anticipated for the movement and storage of assistance will be considerable and in some cases donations to the response have been given without accompanying funding for the logistical support. Government of Zimbabwe has offered approximately 30,000 MT of Maize for distribution by WFP, for which funding for delivery and monitoring is being sought. Nutrition Needs: As shown in figure 2 there was an overall increase in Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) comparing April- May 2014 and 2015 data amongst rural children aged between 6-59 months old. The latest ZimVAC results show that severe acute malnutrition varies from 0.8 % to 5.5 % per province with the national average being 2.3 %, up from 1.5% last year. Midlands and Masvingo still remain at risk of severe and acute malnutrition due to the food insecurity situation prevalent in the provinces (source UNICEF). There is a need for the Ministry of Health and Child Care and relevant partners to ensure that active screening (caseload identification) for malnourished children is strengthened in areas to ensure timely interventions. Increasing the consumption of diversified protein rich food by both children and adults has also been identified as an important intervention to improve quality of diets. (source FNC) 6.0% 5.5% 5.0% 4.0% 3.0% 2.7% 3.2% 3.0% 3.1% 2.3% 2.0% 1.0% 1.1% 1.2% 0.8% 0.9% 1.1% 1.7% 1.7% 1.2% 1.4% 1.5% 1.1% 1.2% 0.0% Manicaland Mash Central Mash East Mash West Mat North Mat South Midlands Masvingo National Figure 3: Comparison of SAM by Province and Year Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Needs: Insufficient access to safe water is the most commonly identified consequence of insufficient rainfall, resulting in shortages of water for human and animal consumption, agriculture, and pasture rejuvenation. During normal times, many communities rely on piped water schemes, boreholes and protected hand dug wells for their water needs. During dry periods, these sources often become unusable or compromised. Due to the water scarcity, women and children will be forced to walk long distances to collect safe water. Although there is an on-going Rural WASH Programme (RWP) being implemented in various districts throughout the country, the gains made by this interventions risk being reversed with the current water shortages. There is also an imminent risk of water-borne diseases as households will collect water from shallow wells and unprotected sources. Personal hygiene and general well-being is likely to be affected, as there is often inadequate water available for domestic use thereby compromising households ability to meet the minimum requirements of 15l/person per day in line with sphere standards. WASH interventions and services will focus on vulnerability, distances in accessing water sources, quality of water source and use of water source (i.e. livestock and other livelihood activities) and the risk to diarrhoeal diseases.

5 Zimbabwe Food Insecurity General Coordination In December 2013, all humanitarian clusters were discontinued and mainstreamed into government-led structures or other development frameworks and that UNRC is looking into how best to revamp coordination to support food insecurity responses. In addition to the sectoral coordination, there is also an inter-agency Resilience and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Task Force whose main function is to support the UN in strengthening government capacity for DRM and resilience building as well as ensuring coherence and cohesion of UN activities on DRM and resilience in support of government and community priorities. Apart from the Food Assistance Working Group, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare is also the custodian of the safety nets programme which includes activities such as the Basic Education Assistance module and harmonised cash transfers. Sector Sectoral group Lead Ministry Supporting Agency/ies Health Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee on Health (IACCH) Ministry of Health and Child Care WASH National Action Committee Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate (NAC) Agriculture Agriculture Coordination and Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Information Forum (ACIF) Irrigation Development Food Security Food Assistance Working Group Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Education Education Sector Working Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Group Nutrition Nutrition Technical Working Ministry of Health and Child Care- Nutrition Group Department WHO UNICEF FAO WFP FNC UNICEF UNICEF For further information, please contact: Mr Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident Coordinator, bishow.parajuli@un.org, Tel: , Cell Ms Regina Gapa- Chinyanga, Humanitarian Affairs Officer, gapa-chnyanga@un.org, Cell For more information, please visit To be added or deleted from this Situation Update mailing list, please gapa-chnyanga@un.org

6 ZIMBABWE Number of People in need of food assistance by District (Jan - Mar 2016) Districts with Highest Insecurity Levels Mashonaland West Mashonaland Central Harare District (%) (%) Hwange Mwenezi Tsholotsho Binga Lupane Buhera Umzingwane Mbire Umguza Zvishavane Legend Matabeleland North Bulawayo Midlands Mashonaland East Manicaland 1,5M people in need Approx.9.6% of total population 16% of rural population is food and livelihood insecure No Data Boundaries 1-5,700 people in need Matabeleland South Masvingo 60 / 62 districts affected 5,701-22,200 people in need 22,201-36,800 people in need 36,801-57,300 people in need 57, ,000 people in need The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Creation date: August 2015 Map No.: 600v01 Sources: OCHA, UNCS, GAUL, Humanitarian Partners, ZimVAC, RVAC Feedback: ocharosa@un.org