Food assistance needs will increase as the 2024/25 lean season begins early
Key Messages
- Area-level Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes are expected to expand in Zimbabwe from June 2024 to January 2025. Following a historic dry spell at a critical period of crop development that resulted in a very poor harvest, millions of people are expected to rely on alternative sources of income, social support, and humanitarian assistance to access food during the longer-than-normal 2024/25 lean season.
- Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes will be widespread from October 2024 to January 2025. Althoughthe start of the 2024/25 rainy season in late 2024 is forecast to be average and will likely support engagement in agricultural activity, humanitarian assistance needs will remain high in many areas of the country until the harvest in 2025 due to poor purchasing capacity as a result of limited income-earning opportunities and high food prices.
- The areas of highest concern include the communal smallholder livelihood zones in southern, eastern, western, and extreme northern typical deficit-producing areas. However, there is also concern for most of the typical high- and surplus-producing areas in the Mashonaland Provinces following a poor 2024 harvest and for urban poor households with limited purchasing capacity.
- Humanitarian food assistance needs are expected to increase into early 2025, following a very early start to the 2024/25 lean season, and be significantly higher than last year and the five-year average. The government and the United Nations have released appeals for domestic and international support covering immediate, short- and long-term interventions.
- Due to limited access to water and pasture, livestock poverty deaths are expected to peak before the start of the 2024/25 rainy season in October 2024. However, the forecasted average rainfall in late 2024 will likely improve water and pasture availability and support improvements in livestock body conditions.
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