Zimbabwe, once known as the breadbasket of Africa, has struggled to feed itself since the seizure of thousands of white-owned farms under late President Robert Mugabe.

But price rises here also indicate how Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as United Nations agencies are warning, will worsen a food crisis across the continent.

"Of late there is a shortage of baking fat, our baking fat comes mostly from South Africa, and the oil most of it is being made locally but it has also risen I'm sure due to the Ukraine war and also the fuel cost going up so those are some of the major issues."

The Ukraine conflict has disrupted shipping in the Black Sea - throttling exports from Russia and Ukraine to markets including in Africa.

Nearly half of the continent's 54 countries rely on Russia and Ukraine for wheat imports says Abebe Haile-Gabriel, assistant director-general at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.

"This Ukraine war, the impact is overlapping with crisis that has already been unfolding in some African countries."

Even before the war broke out, food inflation was pushing many African families to the brink.

Global food commodity prices climbed over 23% last year, according to the FAO, the fastest pace in more than a decade.

In Zimbabwe fuel prices are rising and the currency rapidly devaluing. Annual inflation jumped to 96% in April, up from 61% in January.

According to government statistics about half of Zimbabwe's 15 million people survive on less than $1.90 per day.

Harare resident Tarisai Gweje says her family used to eat three meals a day.

"But these days you can even go for seven days without getting any meat, without getting three meals a day so it's really tough for people and it's really tough for a family that is living from basic salaries."

Across Africa food insecurity is increasing.

The Horn of Africa is facing its driest conditions in more than 40 years, a civil war in Ethiopia has pushed hundreds of thousands into famine conditions and millions more are at risk in South Sudan.

West Africa is facing its worst food crisis on record, driven by militants that have forced millions of people off their land in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

Floods and droughts, linked to climate change, have destroyed crops and lives across the continent and now the conflict in Ukraine is making a dire situation even worse.