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Villagers in Bubi District are facing hunger and the situation is likely to continue despite the heavy rains that were received throughout the country, an official has revealed.
In an interview, the Member of the House of Assembly for Bubi, Clifford Sibanda, said the situation was likely to be worsened by the incessant rains that destroyed crops.
“I am afraid that the fresh maize crop that is left will be destroyed. This will worsen the hunger problems because the harvest will be low. However, there are no reports of anyone who has died from hunger,” he said.
He said they had since approached the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to help by selling maize to the villagers since the government said it did not have enough funds for food relief programmes.
“We have since approached the GMB to help by selling to the villagers at affordable prices. Here people sell maize at $25 for a 25 litre bucket which is not affordable to most villagers. At GMB a 50kg bag goes for $25 which is reasonable,” said Sibanda.
Sibanda said donors had stopped most of the programmes as they were facing shortages of funding due to the economic challenges facing the country. “Most donors have stopped relief programmes because of lack of funding and economic hiccups faced by the country,” he said.
World Food Programme in their latest report stated that as many as 2.2 million people, which is one quarter of the rural population, are now in need of food assistance, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) rural livelihoods assessment.
Online Reporter