“Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries are facing one of their worst food shortages in decades. In February 2016, President Robert Mugabe declared a state of disaster in rural parts of the country severely hit by a drought
largely blamed on the impact of El Niño.
A rapid assessment led by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee in January 2016 estimated that 2.8 million Zimbabweans are facing food insecurity, although other estimates have ranged as high as 5 million. While weather plays a decisive role in food production, citizens also look to government action to promote food security. Afrobarometer surveys from 2004 to 2014 provide evidence that hunger is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe and that the government has generally
fallen short of citizens’ expectations when it comes to ensuring that people have enough to eat.”
