He was speaking on the sidelines of the handover of a food donation to the district by the World Food Programme at Katakura Primary School. “We have been forced to rely on food aid due to poor harvests. However, we feel we cannot continue relying on food aid, we should be able to produce food our own. This can only be achieved if we have dams that will provide us with irrigation water,” he said.
Rushinga district was identified as one of the areas in need of food assistance with the proportion of food insecure population for the district estimated at 26,7 percent.
Chief Rusambo said empowerment projects were critical in order to address the hunger situation in the area.
“We have a lot of young people here who have failed to get formal employment and, as a result, they cannot afford to buy food for their families,” he said.
He added that over-reliance on food aid was creating anxiety in the community.
His sentiments were echoed by Rushinga Senator, Damian Mumvuri. “Food aid is short term and not permanent. People need self-help projects and dams would go a long way in assisting the people,” he said.
Post published in: News