Food-for-work programme resumes

society facing shortages, a Cabinet minister said this week.
Known as Labour Constrain Programme, the scheme will see beneficiaries perform various community works and be paid using grain.
This follows a poor season that hit most parts of the country, leaving many people without adequate food, the majority of who cannot afford a 50 kilogramme bag of maize which is pegged at US$16 at Grain Marketing Board depots countrywide.
Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paurina Mpariwa said Government was working on a number of projects to support vulnerable people in the country.
“We have reintroduced the public works programme to ensure the availability of food to the disadvantaged,” she said.
“After working for 15 days doing community work, one gets a coupon to go to GMB to collect foodstuffs,” she added.
Public works programmes involve manual jobs such as reclamation of gullies and refilling of potholes on roads.
Minister Mpariwa said people with disabilities, the elderly and orphans in every household are receiving US$20 every month to purchase foodstuff.
Approximately 50 000 households in Zimbabwe are headed by children under the age of 18 years, with HIV and Aids being the major cause of death of the parents.
Government normally introduces food for work in certain areas whenever the country experiences poor agricultural seasons. – New Ziana.