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Cde Jason Machaya

Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
THE government has started distributing food aid in the Midlands Province with villagers in Gokwe District being the first recipients.

Gokwe North has received 1,300 tonnes of maize as the government targets to distribute 3,000 tonnes in Gokwe district before the year ends.

Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Jason Machaya said just like President Robert Mugabe had promised, no one was going to die of hunger.

“Already 1,300 tonnes have been allocated to needy families in Gokwe North and we’re hoping that by the end of the year every area in the district would have received the maize,” he said.

Cde Machaya said traditional leaders had recorded the number of needy people who include orphans and widows whom he said were the first recipients of the food aid.

He said the district used to be the main producer of cotton but due to low cotton prices, growing the crop was no longer commercially viable, affecting food security in the process.

Cde Machaya said maize would also be made available to villagers in Mberengwa, Zvishavane, Kwekwe as well as Shurugwi whom he said were in the same predicament as the villagers in Gokwe North.

“We’ve got the whole province covered and every area will receive food aid,” he said.

Chief Nemangwe said his area had received 544 tonnes of maize to avert a disaster.

“We were made to write down the names of villagers in need of food aid. The list is there but what we’ve received is little.

“The area is too big because there are five constituencies with a population of about 242,000 villagers. So we need more maize,” he said.

Chief Nemangwe said because of hunger and long distances children walked to school, some had dropped out.

“A lot of children have dropped out of school because they can’t walk to school because of hunger.

“Some are eating only one meal and concentration in school is difficult for them. So I hope that the maize will be diverted to schools,” he said.

The country has a maize deficit of 700,000 tonnes after farmers delivered a paltry 35,000t to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), forcing the government to rely on imports.