HUNGER and poverty is forcing learners in Matabeleland North to depend on government provided hot meals, a new report has revealed.
The Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLAC) 2025 Rural Livelihoods Assessment report ranked Matabeleland North as having the highest number of learners in the country depending on the government school feeding programme.
The report noted that a healthy diet in sufficient quantity is essential for learning and development.
“There has been an improvement in the proportion of children, who received a hot meal at school during the first term of the year from 7.5% in 2024 to 55.1% in 2025,” the report read in part.
“Matabeleland North had (77.6%) the highest proportion of children receiving hot meals at school.”
According to ZimLAC, this is a near three-fold increase compared to 29.8% of learners in the province who received hot meals at school last year.
After Matabeleland North, there is Matabeleland South with 64.9% up from 10.3% last year, Mashonaland East with 64.2% up from 8.5% while Masvingo has 62.5% up from 1.6%.
Midlands has 56.0% up from 3.3%, Mashonaland West has 45.4% up from 1.4%, Mashonaland Central has 43.5% up from 3.4%, and Manicaland has 32.9% up from 3.1%.
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ZimLAC noted that most districts had at least 50% of their households reporting that they had received support in the previous consumption year.
“Support increased from 48% in 2024 to 76% in 2025, a reflection of the government’s ability to coordinate national response in times of need,” read the report.
“The previous season was characterised by the El Nino-induced drought, which had a negative impact on households’ food security situation.
“This resulted in increased burden of responsibilities to government and its development partners, therefore calling for expanded support.”
The report noted that the government remains the main source of support with (65%), followed by rural relatives (23%), United Nations and non-governmental Organisations Support at (16%) and urban relatives (15%).
“Government is complimented for provision of crucial support towards building resilience and sustainable livelihoods,” the report added.
“The support received from relatives (both rural and urban) reflects a positive enabling economic environment and evidence of social capital.
“Government provided significant support towards recovery efforts (crop inputs: 39.4%).
“About 13.1% of households received support from UN/NGOs in the form of food assistance and 1.9% in the form of crop inputs.”
The Matabeleland region has had serious food challenges for many years due to repeated droughts.
