THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has released US$11.3 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) Zimbabwe country office to coordinate the lean season assistance which will support 230 000 people in the country.
The beneficiaries are from WFP supported districts namely Buhera, Mangwe, Chivi and Mwenezi.
“The assistance we are acknowledging today, which includes cereals, pulses and fortified vegetable oil, is an important contribution to help the most vulnerable people in rural areas to meet their nutritional needs. It will cover close to 230,000 of the 265,000 targeted by WFP people over the coming months,” said WFP representative in Zimbabwe and Country Director Ms Francesca Erdelmann during the launch of this year’s lean season assistance.
She said WFP is working with World Vision, Caritas and the Mwenezi Development Training Centre in the distribution of the cereals.
“Through this lean season assistance, the collective efforts of the national Food Deficit Mitigation Programme in partnership with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare aims to reach 2.7 million people. We have mapped out areas where people require food assistance, identified households and individuals in need and registered them to receive support.
“Our teams are currently on the ground working with our NGO partners World Vision, Caritas and the Mwenezi Development Training Centre in Buhera, Mangwe, Chivi, and Mwenezi. Each person will receive 8.5kg of grains, 1.7kg of pulses, and 0.6kg of oil during each distribution.
“The receipt of food assistance is unconditional and free of charge. ZimGold registered 969 farmers from 48 producer groups in Buhera and Chipinge districts to grow over nine hundred hectares of sunflowers for the 2023/24 cropping season,” she said.
USAID Zimbabwe Mission Director Janean Davis said in addition to programmes that address short-term needs, USAID is committed to continue to strengthen community resilience and accelerate sustainable development.
“For example, our support promotes climate-smart agricultural practices; helps farmers access agricultural inputs and link them to markets where they can sell their produce; supports communities to protect and manage community-shared natural resources; and facilitates the development of extension services for smallholder farmers.
“Linking farmers to local markets is integral to increasing their production and improving their livelihoods. We are very pleased that the World Food Programme sourced some of this year’s commodities from local companies, who in turn, sourced the produce from smallholder farmers,” she said.
Feedback: info@marichomedia.com