Dennis Ndlovu|Zim GBC News<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bulilima and Mangwe districts in Matabeleland South have been flagged as some of the country’s most food-insecure areas, projected to be severely affected during the peak hunger period between January and March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This warning is contained in the 2025 report by the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLac), which also notes overall improvements in national food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the report, the proportion of rural households with acceptable food consumption rose to 59% in 2025, up from 50% in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those consuming poor diets dropped significantly from 10% to 6%, reflecting better dietary diversity and access to nutritious food for many across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite this national progress, specific districts remain critically vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring the peak hunger period (January\u2013March 2026), 15% of rural households are projected to be cereal insecure, translating to approximately 1.5 million individuals requiring 118,563 metric tonnes of cereal support,\u201d the report read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It specifically identified that Kariba (57.6%), Mangwe (43.3%) and Bulilima (43.3%) have the highest proportions of people, who will be food insecure during the peak hunger period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The crisis is not confined to rural areas. The ZimLac report highlights a severe and ongoing challenge in urban centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, over 1.4 million urban residents remain food insecure, requiring 156,331 metric tonnes of cereal between July 2025 and March 2026,\u201d read the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Urban domains with the highest prevalence of food insecurity include Murehwa-Mutoko-Mudzi (41%), Chivhu (40%), and Mutare (39%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nutritional status of children shows mixed progress. In rural areas, the prevalence of wasting is within acceptable WHO limits, but stunting remains a serious concern at 23.8%. Positive developments include Vitamin A supplementation coverage reaching 92.2% for children, and the proportion of children receiving a Minimum Acceptable Diet improved significantly from 2% in 2024 to 11.9% in 2025, though it remains below the national target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In urban areas, the situation for children is more dire. Stunting improved slightly but is still classified as “high,” while wasting was recorded at 5.3%, slightly above the emergency threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most alarmingly, only 4.7% of urban children aged 6-23 months received a minimum acceptable diet in 2025, a sharp decline from 10.4% in 2024, indicating a worsening crisis for the youngest urban residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow Zim GBC News for more updates:
\u00b7 X (Twitter): @ZimGbc
\u00b7Instagram: @ZimGBCNews
\u00b7TikTok: @ZimGBCNews_01
\u00b7Facebook: Zim GBC News
\u00b7YouTube: Zim GBC News<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get real-time alerts on WhatsApp: +263 773 820 323<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For in-depth coverage, visit our website: www.zimgbcnews.co.zw<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zim GBC News | Global News From An African Perspective\u00a92025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dennis Ndlovu|Zim GBC News Bulilima and Mangwe districts in Matabeleland South have been flagged as some of the country’s most food-insecure areas, projected to be severely affected during the peak… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10321,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10319\/revisions\/10321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}