Zimbabwe: food security and markets monitoring report, October 2021
The COVID-19 situation in the country continued to improve leading to the government relaxing most restrictive measures in early September, which enabled households to resume livelihood activities. Although vaccination rates have reduced, they still remain among the highest in Africa. Central parts of the country received significant amounts of rainfall. Meanwhile, northern and the southern parts of the country are yet to receive significant rainfall amounts; effective rains in these parts are expected to start in December. Annual inflation was pegged at 54% in October, which is a marginal increase from 52% recorded in September 2021. Meanwhile, month-on-month inflation increased from 5% to 6%, and monthly food inflation increased from 5% to 8%. During the month of October, the estimated number of people with insufficient food consumption increased by 100,000 to reach 5.9 million. The number of people employing crisis and above coping strategies also increased to 8.9 million people compared to 8.53 million at the end of September 2021. These findings are typical at the start of the lean season, when households begin to deplete their own food stocks and increase reliance on markets.
