By ZIMCODD
At the core of the drought mitigation program is the need to ensure optimum food deficit mitigation. In 2021, the government managed to provide food assistance to 735 455 households between January to September with grain worth approximately ZWL$1.6 billion in rural areas. In urban areas the government managed to support 50 986 households under the Cash for Cereal programme at a cost of ZWL$252 million.
Although government efforts are commendable it is critical to note that, the number of extreme poverty was exacerbated by COVID-19 with an increase of 1.3 million from 6.6 million in 2019. To this end, the government`s assistance was just a drop in the ocean as the majority of Zimbabwean rural and urban areas relied on the assistance of World Food Programme (WFP) which collaborated with local and international organisations such as Goal International, Action Aid Zimbabwe, Plan International to mention but a few.
An addition of those who benefited from government’s rural and urban assistance programs culminates to 786 441 which is 10% of those in extreme poverty. Therefore, given the above scenario, the proposed ZWL 2 billion will not be sufficient to cater for all those who are in extreme poverty as only an amount of 174 800 000 was added to the budget. Furthermore, the 2022 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Report on Rural Livelihoods Assessment shows that, approximately 38% of rural households are food insecure.
This percentage is greatly disputable if one is to consider that more than half of the entire country is in extreme poverty. Matebeleland North had the highest food insecurity with 58% households in need of food support. Some of the areas with the most insecure households are Hwange at 73%, Binga 71% and Buhera 75%.Government drought mitigation efforts are also undermined by the fact that, over 63% of rural households do not have cattle, only 17% of households across the country had more than 5 herd of cattle.
Mashonaland Central and West had the highest proportion of households with no cattle thus standing at 73% and 75% respectively. Cattle are also among the integral strategy of drought mitigation, resilience building and sustainable livelihoods. Food insecurity in Zimbabwe has remained a major concern due to a plethora of reasons such as political polarization, weak land administration, economic and financial problems, erratic climatic conditions as well as corruption.
Political polarisation manifests in government agriculture support programs such as the Presidential Agriculture Inputs Scheme where partisan politics determines who gets the inputs. This can be evidenced by how inputs under the Pfumvudza Agriculture Input Scheme
were distributed in Gutu (Ward 6) on the 15th of February 2021 when Councillor Wenceslaus Madhai and Patrick Marimazhira the Youth Officer distributed fertilizers in a partisan manner culminating in chaos as people began to grab the remaining fertilizers.
The same allegations gained momentum in ward 25 of Chivi South on the 24th of February at Madzivire dip tank, after Councillor Jacob Magondo and a ZANU PF Chairperson, identified as Chikanga distributed fertilizers in a partisan manner, prioritizing 28 members of the ZANU PF 2018 Election Campaigning Team. The same can be said of ward 12 in Bikita where on the 18th of February Councillor Tedios Wafawarova distributed fertilizers under Pfumvudza Agricultural Input Scheme in a partisan manner. The distribution of agriculture inputs in a partisan manner disregards the guiding principles of the NSPPFZ as stated in Section 4 of this digest.
