Bulilima, Mangwe face food insecurity risks

Bulilima and Mangwe districts in Matabeleland South have been identified as two of Zimbabwe's most food-insecure areas, expected to face severe shortages during the peak hunger period between January and March 2026, according to the 2025 Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLac) report.

While the report notes an overall improvement in national food security, it warns that some districts remain critically vulnerable. Nationally, the proportion of rural households with acceptable food consumption rose to 59% in 2025, up from 50% in 2024, while those consuming poor diets declined from 10% to 6%, reflecting progress in dietary diversity and access to nutritious food.

Despite this, ZimLac projects that 15% of rural households - about 1.5 million people - will be cereal insecure during the hunger peak, requiring approximately 118,563 metric tonnes of cereal support.

"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," the report stated.

Urban areas are also struggling, with more than 1.4 million residents expected to face food insecurity between July 2025 and March 2026, requiring an estimated 156,331 metric tonnes of cereal assistance.

"Urban domains with at least 35% prevalence of food insecurity include Murehwa-Mutoko-Mudzi (41%), Chivhu (40%), Mutare (39%), Caledonia (38%), Lupane (37%), Gokwe Centre-Nembudziya (37%) and Zengeza-Seke (35%)," ZimLac noted.

The report also highlighted mixed progress in child nutrition. In rural areas, wasting stands at 4.3%, within acceptable WHO limits, but stunting remains high at 23.8%, exceeding the global threshold of 20%. Encouragingly, Vitamin A supplementation coverage reached 92.2%, and the proportion of children receiving a Minimum Acceptable Diet rose sharply from 2% in 2024 to 11.9% in 2025, though still short of the national 25% target.

In urban settings, stunting declined to 20.7% but remains "high," while wasting increased slightly to 5.3%, surpassing emergency thresholds in Bulawayo, Manicaland, and Matabeleland provinces. Only 4.7% of urban children aged 6–23 months received a minimum acceptable diet in 2025, down from 10.4% the previous year.

The findings underline persistent regional disparities and the urgent need for targeted interventions to strengthen food systems and nutrition resilience, particularly in drought-prone and economically marginalised areas such as Bulilima and Mangwe.