The report, a copy of which is in our possession, has been published by a consortium of the donors who regularly support food programmes for impoverished Zimbabweans.
It said the Second Round Crop and Livestock Assessment, conducted in April this year, had wrongly estimated that national cereal production for the 2010/2011 season was 1 607 700 tonnes against an estimated national requirement of 1 717 800 tonnes.
"While this is about 9 percent higher than last season's production, there is still a significant deficit requiring support from humanitarian partners," the report said.
"The government estimates that, due to the impact of the dry spell earlier this year, areas in six out of the country's 10 provinces will require food aid. The lean period is likely to start earlier than usual in these areas and, therefore, adequate and timely food security strategies will be needed."
The South African government recently announced it would this month begin to deport Zimbabweans who had not succeeded in regularising their stay there.
"It is thus expected that Zimbabwe will receive large numbers (estimated at upwards of 15 000 monthly and mostly men) of returned migrants from then onwards," the report said.
"Secondly, there are indications that the South African authorities will soon begin to deport those Zimbabwean migrants who either have no documentation at all, or who have expired asylum seeker permits, or whose asylum requests have been turned down."
Reports coming from South Africa, however, indicate that Pretoria has had a change of heart over the "burning and sensitive issue" of returning Zimbabweans to their country.
They say the unemployed Zimbabweans have, instead, been given a further reprieve to get their "papers in order or face the boot soon".
"At the end of April, South Africa decided that it would no longer accept asylum claims from third-country nationals that used Zimbabwe (and other neighbouring States) as transit countries, unless they could possibly identify themselves (preferably with a passport or other official documentation) and provide justification why they could not seek asylum in other countries," the donor report said.
"This has resulted in South Africa refusing entry and asylum applications to several hundred asylum seekers from the Great Lakes/Horn of Africa region.
"A large number of those affected by this development are currently in Zimbabwe and the government and humanitarian actors have so far responded to the humanitarian needs of 7 200 people who reportedly arrived within the First Quarter of this year."
Reports indicate, however, that this number is increasing daily as migrants arrive in Beitbridge. Those who request asylum in Zimbabwe are transported to Tongogara Refugee Camp (TRC) in Chipinge (south-eastern Zimbabwe) for processing.
The report said special attention should be paid to women and girls who "are potentially vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse".
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