admin
Senior Reporter
THE new Zanu-PF Government has responded swiftly to a food crisis in Tsholotsho District and will this week send food aid to affected families.At a meeting on Friday to map out a strategy to eliminate poisoning of elephants from Hwange National Park with cyanide, villagers revealed that they had not been able to harvest anything since 2009 because of problem elephants that destroyed their crops.
A villager, Mr John Vumile Dube told seven Cabinet Ministers at a meeting to discuss poisoning of elephants at the game park that villagers, especially in Ward 1 and 7 were facing starvation because of their crops were being destroyed by elephants.
The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Matabeleland North, Ambassador Cain Mathema, announced that Government would be sending food to the hungry families.
“Pursuant to President Mugabe’s electoral promise that no Zimbabwean shall starve, we will be sending some of the grain that has been imported from Zambia to affected wards. Each of the more than 2 000 families will get at least 50kg of maize to begin with,” said Ambassador Mathema.
“President Mugabe said no Zimbabwean will die of hunger. He said everyone regardless of political affiliation, is a Zimbabwean and Government will ensure there is enough food despite successive drought years.”
Earlier this year, President Mugabe had an agreement with his Zambian counterpart, President Michael Sata, over the importation of 150 000 tonnes of grain to feed thousands of people in Zimbabwe who face hunger following a poor 2012/13 poor summer cropping season.
The delivery of the imported maize was temporarily halted after the then Minister, Mr Tendai Biti stopped paying for the grain saying Treasury had no money.
Delivery of the maize has since resumed after new Government availed money to pay for the maize. Matabeleland South and North, Masvingo, Manicaland and parts of Midlands were the worst affected by successive poor cropping seasons and are therefore being prioritised in the distribution.
The grain imports would augment the 10 000 tonnes that were in the national grain strategic reserves. According to the Ministry of Agriculture final crop assessment report, 45 percent of the planted 1,7 million hectares of maize was a write-off in the 2012/13 summer cropping season.
Also, the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee Survey (Zimvac) 2012, estimated that at least 1,7 million people require food aid.
Online Reporter