Emmanuel Kafe
Government will temporarily stop grain distribution at the end of this month in order to better coordinate the exercise with development partners.
The exercise will help address double-dipping, over-feeding and channelling resources to wrong beneficiaries.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prof Paul Mavima said beneficiary selection, targeting and food distribution by Government and development partners was presently not in sync.
“The master register from which to draw beneficiaries is not in place, as it last existed in 2015. Currently, Government and its partners are using different beneficiary registers as opposed to using one master register,” he said.
“It is in this regard that, Cabinet resolved in its meeting of 23 February 2021 that there was need to conduct retargeting of eligible beneficiaries. Consequently, distribution of grain will temporarily stop as at 30 April 2021 to allow the retargeting exercise to be conducted.”
Minister Mavima said the retargeting exercise will come as a way of reducing unnecessary costs and is also premised on the successful 2020-2021 cropping season.
“It is, therefore, anticipated that most rural households will be able to harvest enough to sustain them until around July or even beyond . . .”
He, however, said Government, through the Drought Relief Committees, will respond to distress calls and those who are really in need of food assistance after a thorough assessment.