adminNoah Pito in Hurungwe
Government has doubled its monthly food aid allocation to vulnerable groups here in response to increased demand for assistance caused by poor yields in some parts of the area.
The monthly allocation for the district now stands at 1 276,05 tonnes per month, up from the previous 596,05 tonnes per month.
The 680-tonne increase, which took effect this month, has also seen the numbers of beneficiaries in all the district’s 26 rural wards also rising by about the same margin.
The food aid caters for the elderly, child-headed families, the disabled and the chronically ill.
In an interview, Hurungwe district administrator Ms Makepeace Muzenda said the new allocation was necessitated by food shortages, especially in areas which experienced dry spells and disasters such as hailstorms.
“There are some vulnerable groups who benefited from the Presidential Input Support Scheme and planted with the early rains,” he said.
“Most of them completely lost their crops during the dry spell that followed, resulting in the increased demand for assistance.
“This necessitated us to apply for more food aid, taking into account the huge number of food-insecure families that had indicated their plight.”
Ms Muzenda said the most affected beneficiaries are from Wards 9, 13, 14 and 15.
Online Reporter