PDF《THE STATE OF FOOD》

18 Table 12: Household Food Security by Household Size and

20 Structure Table 13: Household Food Security Status by Poverty Measures

21 Table 14: Proportion of Income Spent on Food

21 Table 15: Household Food Insecurity and Frequency of Going

23 Without Food Due to Price Increases Table 16: Transfers as Food Sources for Urban Households

28 Table 17: Type of Food Transferred from Rural Areas

28 Table 18: Importance of Food Transfers

29 Table 19: Reasons for Sending Food and its Uses in the Urban Area

29 F Figure 1: Location of Study Areas in Harare

5 Figure 2: Age and Sex of Household Heads and Members

8 Figure 3: Household Monthly Income (ZAR)

12 Figure 4: Comparison of LPI Scores in Harare and Other Cities

14 Figure 5: Household Dietary Diversity Scores

17 Figure 6: Months of Inadequate Food Provisioning of Households

19 Figure 7: Maize Prices in Urban Southern Africa, 2007-9

22 Figure 8: Types of Food Not Consumed Due to Price Increases

23 Figure 9: Food Sources in Harare and Other Cities

25 Figure 10: Frequency of Patronage of Food Sources

26 Figure 11: Urban Agriculture in Southern African Cities

27 urban food security series no.

13 1 1. INTRODUCTION Harare is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. At independence in 1980, the population of the city was under half a million but it grew rapidly during the 1980s primarily as a result of large-scale rural-urban migration.1 Between

1982 and

1992 the population doubled from 565,011 to 1,189,103 (an annual growth rate of 5.9%). In the 1990s, however, the growth rate slowed to 2.1% per annum under the combined impact of structural adjustment, rising unemployment, serious housing shortages, out-migration and the HIV and AIDS epidemic.2 Between

1992 and 2002, the population of Harare increased by only 250,000 reaching a total of 1,444,534 at the end of the period. As the country slid into economic and political chaos after 2000, the city continued to experience slow and halting growth. The current population is estimated to be 1.8 to

2 million. The residents of Harare have lived under extraordinarily trying circum- stances for the last decade. In addition to an increasingly volatile political climate, they have had to endure the virtual collapse of the national economy, record unemployment, increasing poverty and rampant infla- tion.3 In 2005, the government launched a nationwide assault on infor- mality which had a major negative impact on the urban poor of Harare who lost their homes or livelihoods or both.4 The country'

s economic collapse decimated the livelihoods and savings of most households in the country and increased their vulnerability to ill-health and food insecurity. Urban households were particularly vulnerable to food insecurity because of their heavy dependence on food purchases. Most of the food in Zimba- bwe'

s urban markets is imported, rendering the urban population more susceptible to external food shocks and rising food prices.5 The rural areas of Zimbabwe are usually seen as the epicentre of poverty, hunger and malnutrition.6 However, unlike most other countries within SADC C where food insecurity is viewed almost exclusively as a rural problem C Harare has a substantial history of research on the urban dimen- sions of food security. In the 1990s, for example, research focussed on the functioning of the city'

s food system and the food security and livelihood strategies of the urban poor.7 The dramatic growth of urban agriculture in the city and the often negative response of the city authorities were also documented in considerable detail.8 Harare'