Zvamaida Murwira Harare Bureau—
The government will today start distributing drought relief food to families affected by the drought in all the country’s ten provinces. The deficit of 700,000 tonnes of grain is being addressed through importation from a number of countries by both the government and the private sector. The drought relief programme coincides with the distribution of inputs under the Presidential Input Scheme which also starts this week in time for the summer cropping season.

Both programmes are being coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare which will be assisted by provincial affairs ministers. According to the second crop assessment results carried out recently, Masvingo is the most affected province while Mashonaland Central has a surplus of 76,000 tonnes and Mashonaland West has a surplus of 54,000 tonnes.

Masvingo requires 131,000 tonnes, Manicaland 96,000, Midlands 93,000, Matabeleland South 61,000, Matabeleland North 46,000 and Mashonaland East 44,000. For urban provinces, Harare requires 236,000 tonnes, while Bulawayo requires 72,000. Most Provincial Affairs Ministers said yesterday that structures for the distribution of grain were already in place.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made said in an interview that all was in place for the distribution of the grain through the Grain Marketing Board. “We’re moving grain to all depressed areas,” he said. “It’s being done by my Ministry and the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Ministry through the GMB.

“We’ve already started moving the grain to provinces and we’re now going to districts and wards to assist people even in the most remote areas to avert hunger. Cabinet has directed us to start moving grain. Each province will get quantities that are in accordance with the severity of the hunger. Our priority are vulnerable families.”

Minister Made said there would be two categories of beneficiaries — the vulnerable that will get vouchers from the Department of Social Welfare to access the grain and some who would be asked to buy at subsidised prices. Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Minister Faber Chidarikire said they will start with the most hit areas in the distribution of grain.

“We’re meeting tomorrow to finalise the logistics,” he said. “We’ll start with Kariba because that’s the most affected district. “I’ve just received the circular from our principals on grain distribution and on Monday we will sit down with everyone to see how we can distribute it.” Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Shuvai Mahofa said the province was the worst affected by last season’s drought.

“There are some people who didn’t harvest anything last season,” she said. “We’ve several districts that have been affected like Gutu, Chivi, Chiredzi, Mwenezi. We want to thank the government for moving in to help the people. The situation has been bad because of poor harvests. Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Mandi Chimene said they were ready to distribute grain to the districts and wards.

“We’ve our people on the ground carrying preparatory work,” she said. “I will be getting a feedback tomorrow when we meet as a province to start grain distribution.” Some of the most affected areas in Manicaland province included Buhera, Mutasa, Chimanimani, Chipinge and Makoni. Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Jaison Machaya said they were ready for the distribution.

“We’re being assisted by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare,” he said. “We’ve districts like Zvishavane and Mberengwa that perennially have food shortages, while other districts like Gokwe managed to have some harvests, but many families have run out of food.”

Speaking in Gwanda on Friday, Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa said grain imported from Zambia had been delivered to Bulawayo and was ready for distribution to areas affected by drought. He was speaking at a briefing with government officials from various departments, service chiefs and traditional leaders at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic College in Gwanda.

Acting President Mnangagwa said the government would distribute the maize according to demand. “The President himself has said as a party and as a government, we shall not allow anyone to die from hunger, but the burden of identifying families or areas that are hard hit, families which should be given priority to receive food can’t be known by me at headquarters,” he said.

“We’ve structures at the ground level from the government side, we have village committees, ward, district, province, that chain should send information.” Acting President Mnangagwa said the ruling Zanu-PF party had established structures to relay the information, while churches and civic society could also assist with the required information.