CMP Prod Oct2012.pdf - Training and Research Support Centre

Production and Food Security
September-October 2011
Summary of Findings
Returns from Production
Small scale farming and informal vending continue to be the main production
activities. Formal and informal manufacturing, formal retail and large scale farming
remained at lower levels. Informal vending has risen sharply since 2007, with sale of
clothes, building materials, electrical gadgets, food items - including alcohol - and
agricultural commodities.
Women are reported to be more involved in informal vending and men more involved in
the other production activities, particularly those associated with more secure incomes.
For small scale agriculture, the majority of households were reported to have limited
access to land, with a small improvement in access in 2012, and with greater access to
land in men than in women.
Fertilizer and maize seed are reported to be available in more than two thirds of sites,
with rising prices for fertilizer and lower prices reported for maize seed in 2012
compared with 2011.
The availability of groundnut and sorghum seed in sites is reported to be relatively low,
having fallen after 2009 and costs for these seed to be higher than for maize seed,
possibly inhibiting use of sorghum despite its resilience in low rainfall areas.
Across provinces, access to tillage and credit was lower in Masvingo and Matabeleland
North, and to irrigation lower in Manicaland and Matabeleland South, and men were
reported to have better access to inputs than women. Community monitors reported that
when prices for crops such as maize are low, and input costs high, they struggle to make
adequate income to meet needs such as health and education fees.
Household food security
Communities are reported to be almost entirely relying on commercial sources of food,
with only eight percent of the sites reporting consumption of own produce. The big fall in
own produce as a source since 2009 may reflect a shift away from food production
towards other cash crops, but it also appears that returns from sales of other crops may
not match costs of commercial foods for many households as sale of assets to purchase
food was reported to be happening in almost all (94%) sites.
Food is generally widely available, with a small increase in prices.
Nevertheless the share of sites where households were reported to have no food stocks
remained relatively high (over 60%) and has been deteriorating since 2009.
If the returns from the other production activities are not adequately supporting food
security, as it appears from the evidence, then more focus needs to be given to
incentives for food production, such as in making inputs more affordable for food
producers, especially women producers.
Environments for health
Nearly a third (30%) of sites report less than a quarter of the households in their site
having access to safe water.
There has also been a small reported improvement in access to safe sanitation during
2012, although still with 20% of sites reporting less than a quarter of sites having access
to safe sanitation.
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