The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE Government has set aside 15 000 tonnes of maize that will be distributed to at least two million households who are affected by drought as efforts to ensure the country’s population is food secure gathers pace.
Food distribution has already started in other parts of the country. Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister Cde Lovemore Matuke said approximately 3,8 million people were in need of food aid nationally.
“With effect from 1 October, we are going to distribute food to more than two million families. This programme will roll up to the end of December. From January to March, we are going to distribute food to 3,8 million households and it will be on full scale.
“The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee report indicates that a total of 3,8 million households need food assistance. We have about 15 000 metric tonnes of maize which are already available, which we will distribute even before October,” said the deputy minister.
Cde Matuke said the 15 000 tonnes of maize were targeted for areas affected by drought and not the whole country.
“We have targeted areas with severe drought. The 15 000 metric tonnes are not for the whole country. As we go to October, we are going to increase our numbers to more than two million, then 3,8 million from January up to March,” he added.
Cde Matuke, however, said the Ministry was monitoring activities of non-governmental activities that were also assisting with food aid to ensure they stick to their mandate.
“What we have done as a Ministry is, we have got a committee at district level. It is an inter-ministerial committee which is in every district which also has the duty to monitor the operations of NGOs. Every NGO which provides anything to any community has to go through that committee and also when they go out there to give whatever they want to give, they seek approval from our offices. Those who deviate from their mandate, normally we delist them, but we can only do that when we get reports that this NGO has deviated from its mandate,” he said.
He said the close monitoring was initiated following reports that some NGOs were deviating from their core business of assisting the communities but tend to delve into politics.
Food aid
One of the Government’s partners in offering food aid, the World Food Programme (WFP), is targeting a food relief programme for 700 000 people affected by poor harvests in Zimbabwe. According to the Population and Housing Census of 2022 the proportion of households consuming poor diet dropped from 43 percent in 2021 to 36 percent in 2022. The census also reported that the proportion of households consuming acceptable diet increased from 29 percent in 2021 to 35 percent in 2022.
Hwange (92 percent) and Hurungwe (72 percent) districts had the highest proportion of households consuming poor diets. The results also note that thirteen districts are projected to have over 50 percent of their households being cereal insecure while the highest cereal insecurity is projected in Hwange (73 percent), Binga (71 percent), Mwenezi (66 percent) and Buhera (65 percent).
The least cereal insecurity prevalence is projected in Guruve (nine percent), Bindura (12 percent), Kwekwe (12 percent) and Sanyati (13 percent).
