The Return of Food: Poverty and Urban Food Security in Zimbabwe After the Crisis

The central question addressed in this report is whether food security in Zimbabwe’s urban centres has improved since the height of the crisis. In other words, are positive macro-economic trends translating into ground-level improvements in incomes, poverty levels and food security? There is certainly an argument that little has changed for those at the bottom: problems of unemployment and low salaries have persisted. Most house- holds face new challenges: the debt burden resulting from the unilateral conversion of household water, electricity and other municipal charges to the US dollar, high tariffs charged by local authorities, and the high costs of health and education services and transportation, which leave residents with little money to purchase food. To try to answer this question, AFSUN conducted a follow-up household food security survey in Harare in 2012. The areas of the city surveyed and the survey instrument used were the same as in 2008, allowing for direct longitudinal comparisons of continuity and change. This report is structured along the same lines as the 2008 survey report and makes direct comparisons between the findings at these two points in time.