More That 140 000 Households In Matabeleland In Need Of Food Aid

141 659 households in Matabeleland South Province are is need of food aid, The Chronicle reports. This was revealed by Matabeleland South provincial social welfare officer, Mr Criswell Nyakudya who said they had requested to increase the number of people receiving food aid in the region as just above 63 000 households were currently receiving food aid.

Myakudya said;

The drought relief programme is ongoing in all seven districts in the province in Matabeleland South Province. We currently have 68 380 households that are receiving grain which is a total of 3 419 metric tonnes per month. We have made a request for our allocation as a province to be increased as the number of vulnerable people has increased significantly especially with this prevailing pandemic and more people are in need of assistance.

About 141 659 households in the province are vulnerable and in need of assistance which brings the total amount of grain we need to 7 082 from 3 419 metric tonnes which we are receiving now. We sent this request last month and we hope it will be considered. In this list we also included people that are vulnerable as a result of Covid-19. Our social welfare officers working with District Development Coordinators and the community leadership assisted us in identifying these people

Meanwhile, the UN said over $100 Million was needed to provide emergency food aid to starving rural communities in Zimbabwe.

More: The Chronicle