The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office, Gorden Moyo said the drought relief programme would be implemented in three ways. “We have adopted three measures which we think will go a long was in assisting the affected communities especially Matabeleland, Midlands and parts of Manicaland provinces. Our primary measure is to move grain from areas of surplus to areas of
deficit. I know that farmers in Mashonaland West and Central and Manicaland North obtained a bumper harvest and those are areas that we are targeting to supply us with grain to be transported to Matabeleland and Midlands regions,” said Moyo.
The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has been tasked to facilitate the transportation of grain to its depots to allow people with funds to be able to buy maize. The Ministry of Finance is also working on a budget to assist GMB with funds that would be used to move the required tonnes of maize to areas of deficit.
“The second measure that we have put in place is to engage development partners such as the World Food Programme to say to them concentrate your activities in areas that we have mentioned, which are in dire need of food help. I can confirm that most of them have agreed and indicated that they will begin operations soon,” he said. Most farmers in the Southern region lost their crops due to a persistent dry spell, which continued for over two months. The region naturally receives below normal rainfall. Midlands and the provinces of Matabeleland were the most affected areas during the 2009/2010 cropping season.
Matabeleland South Governor Angeline Masuku announced that her province needed about nine thousand tonnes of maize per month. In some districts such as Bulilima it was reported that over 1 200 tonnes of maize were required to assist the starving villagers.
Post published in: News