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Many families that did not harvest much as a result of last season’s erratic rains have run out of food. The government which has already done an assessment of food requirements in the different provinces, this week started distributing maize to hunger-stricken and vulnerable groups across the country.

The worst affected provinces have been identified as Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Masvingo, Midlands and some parts of Manicaland. The government has already made a commitment that it will ensure that noone starves. Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said government had mobilised about 100,000 tonnes of maize for distribution to needy families throughout the country. She said government secured 45,000 tonnes while other partners such as World Food Programme contributed the remainder.

Minister Mupfumira said the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee findings helped to ascertain the number of people in need of food aid. She said about two million people were in need of food assistance. The government, we want to believe, has put in place mechanisms to ensure speedy distribution of the maize to needy areas. The government structures such as village, ward, district and provincial committees should work with other community leaders to ensure transparency in the distribution of the food.

The maize should be moved as close as possible to the beneficiaries to avoid a situation whereby beneficiaries are asked to pay transport costs. In the past councillors and in some cases Members of Parliament have fleeced villagers by asking them to pay transport costs and then converted the money to their own use.

It defeats all logic to ask starving people to raise money for transporting food. It is imperative for MPs and Senators to supervise the distribution of maize to ensure all the vulnerable groups benefit.

Food handouts are usually not encouraged as they promote laziness but last season’s poor harvests were as a result of erratic rains hence the government’s decision to feed families that have run out of food. It is important that as the government distributes food, it also assists families to prepare for the forthcoming planting season.

What is encouraging is that government has already announced that about 300,000 small-scale farmers countrywide are set to benefit from the Presidential Well- Wishers Input Scheme in the 2015/2016 farming season. The scheme which targets the elderly, orphans and other vulnerable groups, is meant to boost household food security.

Weather experts have already predicted that most parts of the country will receive normal to below normal rains this coming season and it is therefore important for farmers to plant early as well as stagger the planting to spread the risk. Zimbabwe has the potential to produce not just enough for its consumption but even surplus for export.

What is required is for all those allocated land under the land reform programme to fully utilise the land. Financial institutions on their part have an obligation to support agriculture through availing loans to farmers. Zimbabwe’s economy is agro-based which means the country’s economic turnaround is hinged on the success of the agricultural sector. A bumper harvest will therefore impact positively on different sectors of the economy including the banking sector.

We want at this juncture to implore banks to relax their lending conditions to enable as many farmers as possible to access funding. The government must ensure that the inputs meant to assist the farmers are moved to the farmers before the rains start.