Govt Working On Measures To Mitigate Food Shortages

The Government says it is compiling information that will inform its response to food shortages affecting rural households.

Speaking in Parliament recently, Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mavima said the Government will use the latest Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZIMVAC) report to design its intervention. He said:

We have just received the ZIMVAC report for the rural areas and we are using that information on vulnerability, including even temporary food insecurity to come up with a program for food-deficit mitigation.

… It is a matter that we are really seized with right now because we know the desperate situation that some communities are in at the moment.

He added that the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has adequate grain in its strategic reserve and would be able to provide the drought relief.

Mavima said his ministry will, in the next two weeks, approach the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development to get the grain that is needed in order to make interventions.

Millions of Zimbabweans especially from rural areas are at the risk of starvation due to poor harvests caused by erratic rains.

According to a ZIMVAC 2021 Rural Livelihoods Assessment, 50% of households in areas such as Matabeleland South Province have less than three months’ supplies of food.

Zimbabwe has experienced recurrent food shortages over the past two decades despite billions of dollars spent on government-aided agricultural programs such as Intwasa/Pfumvudza and the Command Agriculture.

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