Minimal acute food insecurity outcomes to prevail across the region
KEY MESSAGES
With the exception of parts of Malawi and Mozambique, most rural households across the region will maintain Minimal (IPC Phase 1) food insecurity outcomes from January to March by increasing reliance on market purchases through improved purchasing power and labor prospects, and supplementing these with food from green harvests which should become available in February.
From April to June, food insecurity for the majority of poor households across the region will continue to be Minimal (IPC Phase 1) as most will start accessing food from the main season harvest and will rely less on market purchases. This will result in stabilization and decline in food prices; improving access for poorer market dependent households.
FEWS NET expects Stressed (IPC Phase 2) food insecurity outcomes throughout the outlook period in flood impacted parts of southern Mozambique (Chókwe district) due to the displacement of thousands of people, along with the loss of crops and assets.
Despite the negative impacts of inclement weather in many countries, crop conditions are reported to be good in many parts of Malawi, parts of central and northern Mozambique, the main maize-production areas of South Africa, unimodal parts of Tanzania, most parts of Zambia, and in north-eastern Zimbabwe.
