The Sunday News
Mollet Ndebele, Sunday News Reporter
MORE than 2 461 households from Insiza, in Matabeleland South province will receive monthly payouts of US$9 per person in each household with effect from this month as part of alleviating food shortages in the district.
The programme is spearheaded by Sizimele Consortium working with Danish Church Aid which has secured US$815 000 to be distributed to the vulnerable families in the district.
Project co-ordinator Mr Diego Matsvange, said the project is set to help mitigate food shortages that are being experienced by people in the area after a poor harvest due to drought last season.
“The programme is designed to empower rural people by building capabilities to respond to a crisis such as food insecurity by way of engaging in gainful income generating activities.
“We will be giving individuals US$9 every month for 12 months and 2 461 households will benefit. The cash payments will be given to a maximum of five individuals per household,” said Mr Matsvange.
He also said the programme will also include school fees pay outs for children from the vulnerable families.
“The cash for asset project will be scaled up to include Lupane District (Matabeleland North). All cash for assets activities are conducted in close collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare,” said Mr Matsvange.
He said the organisation was also implementing a crisis modifier project aimed at helping livestock farmers in Insiza, Lupane and Matobo districts.
“The project embarked on developing a self-sustaining acaricide model to ensure constant supply of livestock dipping chemicals in the three districts.
“The model has seen over 100 000 cattle being supported at 189 dip tanks. A total of 22 dip tanks have been rehabilitated through a youth cash for asset programme where 415 youths participated in the project receiving US$70 over a period of two months.
“We rehabilitated a dip tank which impacted positively on an estimated 25 992 cattle owned by 2 306 households. Livestock fodder and survival feeding were distributed to more than 8 000 households, protecting an estimated 80 000 cattle from poverty deaths due to poor pasture condition,” said Mr Matsvange.
