eBusiness Weekly
Sifelani Tsiko
Lockdowns and coronavirus-triggered panic food buying is likely to push up food prices in Zimbabwe and across the entire Southern African region already battling with a drought caused by poor rains in the current cropping season, Food and Agriculture Organisation experts say.
“All you need is panic buying from big importers such as millers or governments to create a crisis,” said Mr Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the FAO.
“It is not a supply issue, but it is a behavioural change over food security,” he was quoted saying in the media from Rome, the FAO headquarters.
“What if bulk buyers think they can’t get wheat or rice shipments in May or June? That is what could lead to a global food supply crisis.”
In Zimbabwe and other neighbouring countries, panic buying has seen a number of retail outlets being emptied as consumers stocked up food and other essential items to survive the lockdowns.
“We import a lot of food and grocery items and most shoppers here in Zimbabwe are likely to face shortages as movement of goods across the border is now restricted,” said Paul Kainga, a trader at a popular downtown trading zone known as “KumaTuckshops”.
“Cross-border traders who supply us are facing travel restrictions. We can’t get adequate stocks and many here are now raising prices to take advantage of demand outstripping supplies. Many are profiteering from this coronavirus crisis.”
Coronavirus cases have escalated across Europe and the United States, with the number of deaths in Italy surpassing those in mainland China where the virus was first detected last December. On Monday last week, Zimbabwe recorded the first death of a coronavirus patient — Zororo Makmba (30), a media personality and son to businessman James Makamba, who recently travelled abroad and had a pre – existing condition.
This was the second case to test positive to the deadly coronavirus disease.
Zimbabwe has since ordered the closure of schools, colleges, universities and the banning of gatherings of more than 50 people, postponed the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and this year’s Independence Day celebrations as it imposed several measures to control the spread of the epidemic.
More than 25 000 people had died from COVID-19 worldwide, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University and the World Health Organisation.
Nearly 500 000 cases have been confirmed in 196 countries as the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) escalates. Access to food to a majority of people in Zimbabwe still remains a big challenge as the country grapples with a drought.
“Up to now I haven’t got my pay and most shops are closing. So where am I going to buy basic foodstuffs,” said Pamela Simelane, a bank-teller in Harare.
“Stocking up is not going to be easy for me. I hope something will be done to ensure that many people who will paid late will access mealie –meal in supermarkets before a total lockdown.”
Prices of staple maize meal in most SADC countries continue to increase with the entire region grappling with a rise in grain prices both in Southern Africa and globally, according to the latest Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) report of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The latest report indicates that prices of maize are rising largely because of weak production prospects for the 2020 crops, tight supplies and weakening currencies, particularly in Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe, the FAO said, food inflation rates were significantly high throughout 2019 with prices of maize meal continuing to generally increase in December through to January, despite introduction of subsidies on maize.
South Africa, the continent’s biggest economy and major supplier to Zimbabwe and the region, is leaving the door open to shipments of goods despite closing other borders without adequate control mechanisms.
