The Minister for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Sekai Nzenza said that the government will support food insecure households in urban areas.
She added that the distribution of food will not be politicised. In an interview with The Sunday Mail last week, Nzenza said:
The Lean Season Rapid Assessment report indicates that food and nutrition insecurity extend to the urban population, with 40 per cent of this population projected to be incapacitated to meet subsistence food needs.
As a food-deficit mitigatory strategy, the Department of Social Welfare has requested for the grain from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement to feed the urban vulnerable groups.
The total grain tonnage required is 1 247.55 metric tonnes (mt), with 612,7 mt and 635 mt requested for Harare and Bulawayo Metropolitan provinces, respectively.
However, these figures are expected to rise due to the increasing number of urban food-insecure households who require food assistance.
Therefore, urban grain distributions will commence as soon as a positive response is received from the respective ministry.