400 000 households will need food aid

Herald Reporter
AT least 400 000 households would need food assistance starting from January next year owing to low rainfall that saw some parts of the country getting low yields, legislators heard yesterday.

Director of Social Services in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Sydney Mhishi, said out of this figure, half of these households were so vulnerable that they were unable to work for themselves.

Mr Mhishi said this today while giving oral evidence before a Parliamentary portfolio committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare chaired by Mazowe North MP, Cde Edgar Chidavaenzi (Zanu-PF).

“In terms of the current assessment for 2013 to 2014, at the peak of food insecurity in January to March, we are looking at 300 000 to 400 000 households who will be in need of food mitigation. We have also 150 000 to 200 000 vulnerable households that may not be able to work for their own food who would need free handouts,” he said.

The strategy of the ministry, he said, was double-pronged, that of giving people food vouchers or the grain loan scheme.

“The policy practice is that we give them food vouchers which they would redeem at Grain Marketing Board, but here is another challenge, GMB has no maize. Even on grain loan scheme and because of the critical food shortage at GMB, there is nothing to loan,” he said.

Mr Mhishi said the unavailability of grain at GMB was a result of slow movement of imported grain from Zambia, and this was causing headache on how to assist vulnerable people.

He said they had a standing agreement with World Food Programme where Government provided grain while the United Nations agency provide transport to the needy areas.

“They are ready to continue with the arrangement as long as the grain is available,” he said.

Mkoba MP, Amos Chibaya (MDC-T) also wanted to know how beneficiaries of the Basic Education Assistance Module were selected.

Mr Mhishi said they allowed the community to do the selection.

He said there had been some perceptions that if a child is residing with a headmaster, that child did not deserve to benefit.

“That child deserves much more than a child staying with both parents,” he said.

He said while there were some bad elements in the system, some of them had been exaggerated.