Towards identifying possible impacts of HIV/AIDS on food security in rural Zimbabwe

Tendai Mugara, Rhodes University, South Africa
Princess Gabayi, CASS Trust

HIV/AIDS continues to be the most crippling disease throughout the world especially among the rural farming households’ livelihoods. More than 70% of Zimbabwe’s population resides in the rural areas and depend on smallholder agriculture as their major source of livelihoods. HIV/AIDS can be a major threat to food security as it reduces agricultural productivity and diminishes availability of food. Proxy indicators for HIV/AIDS are used to make a comparative analysis of affected and non affected households. A number of studies have looked at possible impacts on different socio-economic aspects of rural households but with little focus on food security status of households. This paper makes use of empirical livelihoods data collected in the rural areas of Zimbabwe to map out the possible impacts of HIV/AIDS on food security.