No one will starve: Govt

Source: No one will starve: Govt –Newsday Zimbabwe

Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa

GOVERNMENT has said it will provide enough food to all Zimbabweans in need amid heightening concerns that drought might revisit the country.

Responding to questions in Parliament last week, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said: “The government is working tirelessly to make sure that we provide enough food for everyone.”

“Our intention is to stop importing all the things that we intend to use such as maize, wheat and tobacco. We need to raise those quantities of production.”

Mutsvangwa said the second republic had been responsive as evidenced by the introduction of  Pfumvudza, a conservation agricultural concept that is designed to achieve food security for an average household of six persons over one year.

She indicated that government had procured tractors and other agricultural equipment to enhance the country’s agricultural output to ensure food security.

“The country has enough grain and food because we have reserves through the programmes that were implemented by the government,” she said.

Mutsvangwa told legislators that government will continue importing tractors to help farmers increase production.

She added that government had bought driers for farmers so that the issue of moisture content that irks farmers each time they deliver their maize to the Grain Marketing Board becomes a thing of the past.

Zimbabwe has been listed among 20 countries deemed to be hunger hotspots following drought-induced poor harvests.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said at the peak of the lean season, some families might be forced to skip meals, while others would have to sell livestock or other possessions to buy food.

Droughts have ravaged the southern parts of the continent.

In Zimbabwe according to WFP, about 3,8 million people facing hunger  after the country’s major humanitarian organisation said it would only provide food aid to 20% of the hunger-stricken population.