The Sunday Mail
Government will this week unveil a nationwide food-for-work programme set to benefit hundreds of thousands of food insecure Zimbabweans across the country’s eight rural provinces.
The Productive Community Assets programme will combine community infrastructural development and rehabilitation along with food assistance for vulnerable households as Government ramps up efforts to arrest food insecurity.
Currently, Government is providing a monthly ration of 50kg of maize to over 600 000 households under the Vulnerable Food Assistance Programme.
The programme is meant to shield vulnerable communities from the El Nino-induced drought.
Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mrs Priscah Mupfumira told The Sunday Mail last week that all was set for the nationwide launch.
She said: “Over the last few weeks we have been adding on to our registers of vulnerable households those who have been benefiting from assistance provided by our relief partners.
“We have witnessed wholesale withdrawal from many NGOs doing food relief across the country as a result of shortage of funding for such programmes.
“Therefore as Government we have taken it upon ourselves to feed those people. So, the number of people on our registers has been increasing dramatically.
“On May 4 (Wednesday) we will launch the food for work programme in Harare and the programmes will start in earnest.
“We have already piloted the programme in four districts in Mashonaland West – (Makonde, Chegutu, Zvimba and Hurungwe) – and the results have been very encouraging.
“Under the programme we hope to co-opt at least 50 percent of all food insecure people to do various infrastructure developmental works in their communities.”
Minister Mupfumira said compilation of the registers has been completed and the households were being categorised as per their individual needs and ability to participate.
Verification of Government’s vulnerable household database, which is being used to facilitate assistance of the needy, has revealed that scores of able-bodied people are receiving free grain.
Vulnerable households are those headed by the elderly, the disabled and under age children.
Under the new initiative authorities will request households receiving grain assistance to submit lists of able-bodied individuals who are prepared to participate in community development programmes in return for grain and small monetary stipend.
Vulnerable households that do not have an able-bodied will not be prevented from receiving the grain.
District Drought Relief Committees working in collaboration with communities will identify infrastructure projects in communities that require rehabilitation. Teams made up of able-bodied individuals from beneficiary households are the set up to undertake the projects.
Engineers and technical experts from DDF will provide assistance in cases where their expertise are required. The programme will focus on roads rehabilitation, expansion of clinics and hospitals and other community amenities.
The programme comes at a time when the number of food insecure people is steadily rising countrywide and putting pressure on the country’s food reserves. Zimbabwe is experiencing one of its worst droughts in recent year’s which has been exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon.
President Mugabe has declared the drought a national disaster and Government has launched an international drought relief appeal for US$1,6 billion.
The appeal seeks to build resilience through food importation, safe water supply, and micro-nutrient/under-five and school children feeding.
It is also focusing on irrigation infrastructure rehabilitation and production, livestock support and de-stocking, and wildlife relief.
Zimbabwe, like many countries in Africa, is experiencing drought due to negative effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon.
In South Africa, more than half of the plus-50 million population faces hunger, with the country requiring at least R20 billion to import five to six million tonnes of maize. According to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee, about 2,8 million people in that country need food aid.
