Limited household incomes and poor liquidity to increase number of food insecure households
KEY MESSAGES
All southern provinces will continue to experience Crisis (IPC Phase 3) food security outcomes from April through September due to no or very little own production, limited livelihood options, and constrained access to food because of high cereal purchase prices. The northern areas will be predominantly Stressed (IPC Phase 2) during this period as most poor households are likely to produce below average maize and will experience some challenges in accessing food later in the consumption year.
National cereal production from the 2015-16 cropping season is expected to be less than half the five and ten year averages. The national cereal deficit for the current 2016-17 consumption year is estimated up to 1.3 million MT, which is much higher than usual. Since surplus regional cereal supplies will be substantially lower this year, imports from international markets are expected to occur but have not yet started.