The month-on-month cost of living for an urban family of six in Zimbabwe has surged by 43.1 percent, while basic commodities, such as cooking oil, maizemeal and flour have been "consistently unavailable" on the formal market since the onset of the festive season, said the latest report by the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ).

Zimbabwe's hyperinflation, which saw levels persist stubbornly above 1,000 percent in 2006, has resulted in a family of six now having to spend US$1,406 to subsist in January, as opposed to the US$982 monthly income required in December 2006. The CCZ noted that the steepest increases were recorded in education (261.9 percent), bread (179.7 percent), white sugar (166.7 percent) and cooking oil (78.3 percent).

The latest figures released by Zimbabwe's central statistics office showed that year-on-year inflation had risen by 182 percentage points in December from 1,098 percent in November, hitting a new record high of 1,280 percent.

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, the unavailability of staple foods has been forcing people to purchase more expensive foodstuffs and has drawn people from outlying rural areas to the city in search of maize, a staple food.

Communal farmer Lindani Siwela arrived in Bulawayo a few days ago to look for maize, but found none. "I had no option but to buy whatever I felt would, at least, satisfy my family. I went for potatoes and spaghetti, but I had to fork out a lot of money ... At least I now have something for the family, but because, naturally, we are sadza [maizemeal porridge] eaters, I urge government to find a solution to the maizemeal shortages and provide millers with grain, so that we can have sadza once more. The last time we had it was shortly before Christmas."

A 10kg pocket of potatoes retails for about Z$40,000 (US$160) - a monthly salary for those who have a job. Unemployment in Zimbabwe is estimated to be about 80 percent. According to the consumer council, when commodities are available, 1kg of margarine costs Z$5,724 (US$23), 2kg of flour costs Z$2,364 (US$9.50) and 750mm of cooking oil retails for Z$4,666(US$18.50).

Grain millers in Matabeleland, a drought-prone region in southern Zimbabwe, told IRIN the state-owned Grain Marketing Board (GMB) had failed to supply maize because it had no grain reserves.

Arnold Mutemi, of the Grain Millers Association, said, "Some of our members last got allocations from GMB in the second week of December and all their stocks were sold out during the run-up to the festive season. Now we are stranded. Save for a few who have gone an extra mile to source grain from the parallel market, most of us have virtually no maize, and that means we can not produce any maizemeal - that is why we are experiencing this shortage."

Ndimande Masotsha, a traditional leader in Tsholotsho, a district about 110km northwest of Bulawayo, told IRIN, "Our village has not had any [maize] deliveries for a long time now. The miller who normally supplies us says there is no maize at the GMB. There is nothing in the shops and people are worried.

"It is the lucky ones, who have relatives who work in South Africa or Botswana who brought them maizemeal, who still eat sadza. Otherwise, most of us have now survive either by begging from those who have or by eating other secondary foods," Masotsha said.

Agricultural Minister Joseph Made dismissed the reports of maize shortages. "Besides reserves from our last harvest we have Operation Maguta, which has gone a long way in ensuring food security, so I am not aware of the so-called shortages that you claim," he told IRIN.

In 2006 soldiers were deployed in Operation Maguta to supervise agricultural production on farms and, in some cases, forced farmers to produce maize.

Once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe's farming system was disrupted in 2000, when President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government embarked on a fast-track land redistribution exercise that sought to give land to thousands of blacks from impoverished communal areas by removing more than 4,000 white commercial farmers from their estates. The European Union and the United States subsequently imposed limited sanctions on top government officials for human rights violations, and Mugabe's disputed re-election in 2002.

Inadequate government support for the new farmers, such as supplying fertiliser, farming equipment and seeds, has had a severe impact on food production.

The government has consistently denied the existence of food shortages. In late 2006 the GMB said Zimbabwe was expecting a surplus above its annual cereal requirement of about 1.9 million metric tonnes. However, independent estimates suggested that only 800,000mt of maize was produced, or less than half the country's annual requirement.