The Sunday Mail
A multi-stakeholder committee assembled by Government to formulate drought-mitigation strategies will start meeting this week, a Cabinet minister has said.
Public Service, Labour and Social Services Minister Prisca Mupfumira told The Sunday Mail that the committee would explore how to assist vulnerable groups.
Minister Mupfumira said: “Government has an on-going programme to assist disaster-stricken communities at all times, and we are already calling all stakeholders to a meeting on how to tackle the challenge.
“We will establish the number of those who need assistance and then move in to assist. The committee will also look at how such communities can be given the means to cope with similar disasters in future.
“But as of now, we continue to assist all those in need of grain with the little that we still have as a country. We are also looking at augmenting stocks with imports.”
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union president Mr Wonder Chabikwa added: “We cannot say exactly how much we are going to harvest, though it is clear that we will not be anywhere near last season’s harvest.
‘‘As such, it is still too early to say exactly how many people will need food aid. We are, however, happy that there are moves to import grain as we speak.”
