NKAYI district is yet to roll out a drought relief programme as authorities indicated several families in the district were starving due to food shortages.
Report by Blondie Ndebele Own correspondent
This follows findings by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee that 20% of the population in the district is facing food shortages.
The new food relief programme, Seasonal Targeted Assistance (STA) will start in December and is targeting about 8 000 vulnerable people in the area.
Nkayi district administrator Moses Mbewe yesterday told NewsDay that they were still compiling a list of beneficiaries for the programme that will complement the grain loan scheme and other food relief programmes in the area.
“The programme will start in December and will run concurrently with other food programmes,” he said.
“However, this will cover a few people since the drought relief mechanisms are still insufficient.
“Only 20% of the people will benefit and the rest will be registered in other programmes.
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“They will be getting maize, beans and cooking oil every month.”
He said the government’s mitigation programme that gives each family a 50kg bag of maize every month was not enough because some families were big.
Mbewe said there was a population of about 125 000 in the district but only 25 000 received food aid.
Mbewe said some people were getting food aid from nutritional support programmes that provide food for an average of 8 000 people who are living with HIV.
