Staple food prices expected to remain high in response to tighter regional supplies
KEY MESSAGES
• Although most parts of the region will remain food secure during the July to September period, there are pockets of acute food insecurity in areas that experienced reduced harvests due to mid-season dry spells and or flooding. Food access in these areas is already problematic for some households, and the lean season is expected to begin earlier than the normal October/November start.
• From July through September, Stressed (IPC Phase 2) and Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes are expected in localized parts of Zimbabwe and Malawi. However, food security is expected to improve in affected areas of Zimbabwe during the October to December period due to the start of seasonal targeted assistance and other safety-net programming in deficit areas.
• Food prices in some of the region’s most productive areas continue to decrease or stabilize, following normal post-harvest seasonal trends. In deficit areas food prices are rising steeply even while harvests are still on-going, a pattern that is atypical for this time of the marketing year.
• The 2013 national vulnerability assessments findings released in July point to increased levels of food insecurity across the region. Most countries have recorded higher numbers of acutely food insecure populations and a much wider geographic distribution of affected areas compared to the past three years. Namibia has the highest level with 48 percent of its rural population assessed as requiring food assistance.