ZIMBABWE is once again drifting towards a food insecurity crisis — and this time, no one can claim ignorance.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) has issued yet another stark alert that early 2026 will usher in deepening hunger, with more households sliding into critical conditions before relief from the main harvest around April or May. That such warnings have become routine does not make them less urgent; it makes them more damning.
Fews Net, a US government-backed initiative that provides early warning and analysis of food insecurity worldwide, warns that poor households in typical deficit-producing areas — including parts of Matabeleland North and South, Masvingo, Manicaland, Midlands and the far north of Mashonaland — will struggle to access adequate food during the peak lean season between December and March.
These regions are already on the frontline of vulnerability. Now, a convergence of shocks — depleted household food stocks, uneven grain availability in markets and sharply eroded purchasing power — has stripped families of the ability to cope. For poor households that rely almost entirely on markets once their own supplies run out, the soaring cost of staple food, particularly maize meal, has turned survival into a daily contest.
This warning must be acted upon, not merely acknowledged.
Food insecurity in Zimbabwe is no longer just about rainfall patterns or seasonal cycles. It is increasingly about income collapse, price instability and fragile social protection systems that are underfunded, fragmented and slow to respond. Safety nets exist largely on paper, offering little real insulation against economic shocks.
Yet experience suggests a familiar dangerous pattern. Early warnings are issued. Officials nod in agreement. Action is delayed — until images of hunger force an emergency response. Each lean season follows the same script: depleted granaries, rising market dependence and collapsing purchasing power, all unfolding in plain sight while interventions remain reactive rather than preventive.
In his 2026 National Budget, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube assured the nation that the government is ready to provide food assistance to every vulnerable citizen until the next harvest. That assurance, while welcome, must translate to more than a line in a budget speech. It demands clear operational guidelines, predictable funding, transparent targeting mechanisms and credible delivery timelines. Vulnerable households cannot enforce policy intentions.
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Equally troubling is the persistent mismanagement of resources meant for the poor. Leakages, political interference and weak oversight have repeatedly undermined food assistance programmes. The government must tighten systems, strengthen monitoring and act decisively against those who divert or abuse resources meant to save lives. Hunger is a humanitarian crisis — not a patronage opportunity.
Perhaps the most alarming element of the Fews Net assessment is that even poor households in surplus-producing regions are expected to meet only minimal food needs. This is a damning indictment of the broader economic environment. When traditionally resilient areas slip into stress, it signals a system under severe strain.
Compounding the risk is the withdrawal of donor support as global attention shifts inwards. The era of donors lining up to plug Zimbabwe’s food gaps is fading. Government is increasingly on its own — and must finally move beyond slogans about “leaving no one and no place behind”.
Functioning safety nets must be in place.
The government must act now lest a foreseeable crisis morphs into a manufactured humanitarian emergency.
