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In some areas, families are not expecting to harvest anything this season as the crops are a write-off due to the prolonged dry spell during the second half of the season. According to the Government’s crop assessment report, 500 000 of the 1,6 million hectares planted this farming season are a write-off. Many families, especially in Matabeleland South, urgently need food aid.
What is comforting is that the Government has extended the grain loan scheme to the 2012/13 season. The challenge, as we have said before, is to move the grain without delay to the affected families.
According to reports on the ground, maize is yet to reach the people and in areas where it has been delivered, the quantities are very inadequate given the numbers that must be fed. There are reports that some wards are receiving as little as 400 x 50kg bags of maize per ward yet some wards have as many as 1 000 households which means what is being delivered cannot feed half of the ward’s population. Under the grain loan scheme, a family is supposed to receive at least a 50kg bag of maize per month which unfortunately given the size of some families, cannot last a month. The Government should just put in motion distribution mechanisms that will ensure the maize is delivered at ward level. There are already reports of unscrupulous dealers taking advantage of the desperate situation to exploit the suffering families by charging as much as $30 for a 50kg bag of maize instead of the recommended price of $16. The only way to address the problem is for Government to deliver the maize at ward level so that families can easily access the grain without paying additional money for transport.
In the past Government has mobilised transport from such institutions as the Zimbabwe National Army and we see no reason why the same cannot be done this time around. The situation is fast deteriorating into a crisis and unless Government acts fast, it might find itself overwhelmed and therefore failing to cope. What has aggravated the situation is that many rural retail shops are reported to be without mealie-meal meaning even those few families that have the cash cannot access the mealie-meal. It is not enough for the political leadership in the affected areas to just move around purporting to be assessing the gravity of the problem on the ground without offering practical solutions to the distribution challenges.
Members of the House of Assembly, Senators, councillors and other such leaders should be involved in setting up distribution mechanisms on the ground to ensure grain gets to the people as quickly as possible to avert starvation. The leadership should be on the ground so that when food runs out, they can quickly send alarm bells to
Government. There is every reason to panic this year because reports indicate that traditional food basket areas in most parts of the country were affected by the erratic rains.
We want to once again urge Government to mobilise the required transport and move grain to the people as soon as possible while ensuring the country has adequate food to feed the nation until the next harvest next year.
Online Reporter