Household food insecurity in low rainfall areas of Zimbabwe: initial findings in Mudzi, Mutoko and Buhera Communal Areas

Abstract

Since 1980, drought has caused widespread crop failures in Zimbabwe. The majority of rural based households have experienced reduced incomes and food shortages, requiring them to rely on food transfers from the government. Approximately 350,000 households have received government support through commodity food aid or food-for-work programmes. Since 1981-82, the government has spent an estimated Z$800 million on these programmes, excluding costs borne by non-governmental organisations (Mhiribidi, 1987). In addition, households themselves have been forced to divert remittances from production investment to consumption, dispose of production assets, and migrate in search of alternative income sources,