{"id":12575,"date":"2019-08-19T15:59:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T15:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=12575"},"modified":"2019-08-19T15:59:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T15:59:12","slug":"looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe","title":{"rendered":"Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hardships due to Zimbabwe\u2019s poor maize harvest are exacerbated by unstable economic conditions in the country, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz).<\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwe\u2019s maize harvest is currently estimated at 800 000 tonnes, down by 53% from the previous year, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>The World Food Programme estimates that more than one-third of Zimbabwe\u2019s rural population \u2013 about 3.6 million people \u2013 will face food insecurity by October 2019. By January 2020, the figure is expected to increase to 5.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZimbabwe\u2019s maize prospects \u2014 its staple crop \u2014 are not in good shape because of a drought which delayed plantings at the start of the 2018\/19 production season. And when it finally rained, it became rather excessive, as was witnessed during <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cyclone_Idai\">Cyclone Idai<\/a> at the start of the year,\u201d Sihlobo explains in the latest Agbiz newsletter.<\/p>\n<p>He adds that droughts or floods always have a devastating impact on agriculture. However, in economically unstable countries \u2013 like Zimbabwe \u2013 the impact of an event like a drought usually continues for months after the end of the period of extreme weather conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHad Zimbabwe been an economically stable country \u2013 with efficient markets, policy and infrastructure \u2013 the effects of lower agricultural output would have been buffered by imports and government assistance to a certain extent,\u201d says Sihlobo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut this is not the case in Zimbabwe. The economy, political environment and state resources remain fragile. The maize markets cannot function efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Sihlobo, it is estimated that Zimbabwe still needs to import about a million tonnes of maize in order to fulfil its annual needs.<\/p>\n<p>In his view, South Africa, Zambia and Mexico could be the potential suppliers of white maize to Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAside from white maize, there are a number of countries that can potentially supply yellow maize to Zimbabwe, with the most likely ones being Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine and the US,\u201d concludes Sihlobo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hardships due to Zimbabwe\u2019s poor maize harvest are exacerbated by unstable economic conditions in the country, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz). Zimbabwe\u2019s maize harvest is currently estimated at 800 000 tonnes, down by 53% from the previous year, according to data from the US Department [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[487,83,345,740,146],"class_list":{"0":"post-12575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-cyclone","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-food","12":"tag-insecurity","13":"tag-poverty"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hardships due to Zimbabwe\u2019s poor maize harvest are exacerbated by unstable economic conditions in the country, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz). Zimbabwe\u2019s maize harvest is currently estimated at 800 000 tonnes, down by 53% from the previous year, according to data from the US Department [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-19T15:59:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe\",\"name\":\"Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-19T15:59:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-19T15:59:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":533,\"caption\":\"Villagers gather food Jan. 15 at a distribution point near Harare, Zimbabwe. With poverty on the rise and a drought compounding Zimbabwe's problems, people are struggling to make ends meet and the poor are becoming poorer, church workers said. (CNS photo\/Aaron Ufumeli, EPA) See ZIMBABWE-POVERTY-PROBLEMS Jan. 29, 2016.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe - zimbabwe","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe","og_description":"Hardships due to Zimbabwe\u2019s poor maize harvest are exacerbated by unstable economic conditions in the country, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz). Zimbabwe\u2019s maize harvest is currently estimated at 800 000 tonnes, down by 53% from the previous year, according to data from the US Department [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2019-08-19T15:59:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":533,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe","name":"Looming food insecurity in Zimbabwe - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-19T15:59:12+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-19T15:59:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/looming-food-insecurity-in-zimbabwe#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/08\/Drought-Zimbabwe.jpg","width":800,"height":533,"caption":"Villagers gather food Jan. 15 at a distribution point near Harare, Zimbabwe. With poverty on the rise and a drought compounding Zimbabwe's problems, people are struggling to make ends meet and the poor are becoming poorer, church workers said. 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