About 1. 75 million urban residents in Zimbabwe are likely to suffer food insecurity in 2024, a report by the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLAC) has stated.
This was presented by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka, during the post-cabinet briefing on Tuesday.
Dr Masuka said this translates to at least 35 percent of the country’s urban population.
The assessment was conducted between February 13 and 28, 2024.
In Bulawayo, the areas under which the exercise was conducted are Makokoba, Nguboyenja, Thorngrove, Emakhandeni, Mpopoma, Entumbane, Matshobana, Pelandaba, Njube, Old Lobengula, Lobengula Extension, Luveve, Gwabalanda, Cowdry Park, and Nqameni.
Other suburbs that were assessed are Pumula, Magwegwe, Hyde Park, Pelandaba West, Nketa, Mganwini, Rangemore, Nkulumane, Tshabalala and Sizinda.
“Cabinet received a report on the ZimLAC 2024 Urban Livelihoods and Nutrition Assessment. The Assessment established that 65% of urban households are food secure, while 35% are food insecure. The proportion of food insecure households translates to 1 732 770 people,” Dr Masuka stated.
“Regarding the Urban Nutrition Assessment, the findings were that the household Dietary Diversity Score is high across the provinces, with 79% of households at the national level consuming 5 or more food groups; that 71% of urban households consume acceptable diets which include meat, fish, eggs complemented by other foods such as pulses, fruits and milk.
Dr Masuka said the report captured some of the challenges affecting the youths which were derived from the survey.
“The main youth development challenges reported by surveyed households are unemployment, drug and substance abuse, and early marriages. The surveyed youths indicated that their priorities are job creation, income-generating activities, vocational training or skills development and start-up capital or loans,” he said.
The 2024 ZimLAC Urban Livelihoods and Nutrition Assessments were conducted to estimate the urban population that is likely to be food insecure in 2024, their geographic distribution and the severity of their food insecurity.
It also sought to assess the status of nutrition among the urban population to facilitate evidence-based decision-making and programming for better nutrition outcomes and to determine access to basic services such as education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, sources of income, expenditure patterns, food consumption patterns and consumption coping strategies.
