The government will at the end of this month suspend grain distribution to households across the country.
This will be done to better coordinate the exercise with development partners and address double-dipping, over-feeding and channelling resources to wrong beneficiaries, a cabinet minister has said.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mavima said Cabinet resolved in its meeting of 23 February to temporarily suspend the grain distribution exercise. Said Mavima:
The master register from which to draw beneficiaries is not in place, as it last existed in 2015.
Currently, Government and its partners are using different beneficiary registers as opposed to using one master register.
It is in this regard that, Cabinet resolved in its meeting of 23 February 2021 that there was a need to conduct retargeting of eligible beneficiaries.
Consequently, the distribution of grain will temporarily stop as of 30 April 2021 to allow the retargeting exercise to be conducted.
Mavima also said the retargeting exercise will come as a way of reducing unnecessary costs and is also premised on the successful 2020-2021 cropping season.