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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Member of Parliament for Beitbridge West Cde Metrine Mudau has urged the Government to increase food aid for the elderly and orphans in the constituency where over 2 000 households are facing hunger. In an interview last Friday, Cde Madau said so far 936 households had received food aid in the form of grain under the Government’s drought relief scheme.
“The situation is deplorable, especially that our area has been hit by successive droughts,” she said. “We need more urgent food aid, especially for the elderly and the orphans.”
Cde Mudau said people were willing to engage in the food for work programme. She said the situation was also worse for livestock farmers who formed the bulk of the community. “Many people are depending on selling livestock to make a living, but this time because of drought these animals are in bad shape and fetch very low prices on the market,” said Cde Mudau. “This has resulted in a number of families struggling to make a decent living.”
Some children were also dropping out of school because of hunger. Cde Madau called on Government to introduce supplementary feeding for children in schools. “We are very hopeful that if Government and other development players revive Shashe and Kwalu irrigation schemes, we will be able to augment food supplies in the constituency,” she said.
The community had tried to repair the infrastructure at some of the irrigation schemes, but the damages were beyond its capacity. “I am in the midst of courting other development players to assist with reviving the irrigation schemes, though nothing has materialised so far,” she said.
Cde Mudau said besides hunger, people in the area were faced with acute shortage of clinics, with some travelling for over 20 kilometres to the nearest health centre.
Online Reporter