Irrigation Scheme

Most families have run out of food and are therefore in urgent need of food aid. The most affected regions are Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Midlands, Masvingo, some parts of Manicaland and Harare provinces. Government has already pledged that it will ensure that no one starves. Government has in fact started importing maize and some of the maize has already been delivered to the country.

What is critical is for the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and other support ministries such as that of Local Government to put in place the necessary logistics to ensure swift movement of grain to needy areas. We have said it before that all government structures from the village up to the provincial level should be involved in the distribution to ensure all the needy families receive food on time.

Reports on the ground suggest that the food is yet to be delivered to beneficiaries yet its several months since the imported maize was delivered.

According to reports from Gokwe, some families are now surviving on wild fruits as they ran out of food a long time ago.

Most families harvested virtually nothing last season as a result of erratic rains received in most parts of the country. What this means is that many of the families did not have food as early as the beginning of the year and the situation is now dire. In Matabeleland South, some parts of the Midlands and Masvingo provinces, the situation is being aggravated by the fact that most water sources for livestock have dried up and there are no pastures.

Farmers in these areas have been asked to de-stock as many of them cannot afford supplementary feeding until the pastures improve. According to a recent assessment, about 1,5 million people are in need of food aid countrywide and the government has to import about 700,000 tonnes of maize to cover last season’s deficit. The delay in delivering maize to the needy families has been blamed on shortage of transport. We want to appeal to the government to mobilise adequate resources to urgently move the maize to the people before we start recording deaths from starvation.

Non-governmental organisations have over the years assisted government during such crises periods and we have no reason to believe the situation will be different now. According to reports on the ground, NGOs have infact started mobilising resources to complement government efforts to feed the needy. In some areas the NGOs are already running feeding programmes and this is as it should be.

Government and NGOs should work together to avoid duplication so that the feeding programmes are spread to all corners of the country. The long term solution to the recurrent droughts which are as a result of climate change is to cultivate crops under irrigation as opposed to waiting for the rains.

What this entails is investing in irrigation schemes. Government has already embarked on a programme to rehabilitate irrigation schemes in many parts of the country and more resources should be availed for this programme. The country can only be guaranteed food security if the bulk of its food is produced under irrigation as farmers can grow crops throughout the year. We want to once again implore government to put in place mechanisms to enable it to swiftly move maize to needy areas.

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